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The GreenCab pilot program for on-demand, after-hours and alternative-hours transportation in Marietta has been extended for at least one month with a $15,155 infusion of American Rescue Plan Act funds and an ordinance passed Thursday night by Marietta City Council to continue the contract until Aug. 22.
The ordinance was passed with suspension of the first and second readings and adoption on an emergency basis after the third reading.
The program's benefits and the city's lack of funding sources to sustain it through the end of the year have been discussed in detail the past few weeks. The three main goals first established for the program were to offer motorized transportation alternatives, collect detailed data on the actual need for that kind of service, and work out how to fund the program past its six-month existence, if so desired.
The first two goals have been successfully met, by testimony of practically all involved. But the city warned at the outset that the third goal meant finding operating money elsewhere.
The one-month program extension council approved Thursday night is providing a period where that funding search can yield some results.
An ad hoc group has been meeting for a month or more on the issue. The group includes Bret Allphin and Geoff Schenkel from Marietta City Council; City Engineer Bob Heady and Public Safety and Service Director Steve Wetz; Tracy Brown from Wood-Washington-Wirt Interstate Planning Commission; Julia Hinzman, Washington and Noble County mobility manager for Buckeye Hills Regional Council; and John Rinaldi and Gary Grant from 59 Green Ltd., doing business as GreenCab.
"My hat is off to Wetz and that group," Councilman Mike Scales said of the time and work that has already been invested.