ORLANDO, Fla. — The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round – until the end of next month for seniors in Orlando apartment towers getting to and from their weekly shopping trips.
Seniors First confirmed Tuesday it is cutting its three-day-per-week transportation program, SeniorTran, that has been offered to the city’s residents for free for years.
“Discontinuing the transportation program allows us to reallocate our limited financial resources to meet the growing needs of seniors, helping them remain healthy and independent at home,” Seniors First Director of Communications Katherine Brown wrote in an emailed statement, mentioning that Seniors First is the sole Meals on Wheels provider for Orange County.
However, City of Orlando staff and commissioners offered a much blunter explanation: Seniors First was facing federal budget cuts that directly and indirectly impacted the area’s seniors, such as cuts to Second Harvest, and the bus service was a consequence of shifting needs.
According to the organization’s latest annual report, the transportation program cost Seniors First more than $800,000, which represented 5% of its expenses.
Seniors First received more than $600,000 from the federal government in 2024. It’s not clear if any of that money was cut this year, and if so, if the elimination of the service was a direct result of that cut.
The organization received $66,000 from the city last year to run the SeniorTran program, a city spokeswoman said.
“During recent contract renewal discussions, Seniors First informed the [Orlando Community Redevelopment Agency] that they would not be renewing the agreement, as they are discontinuing transportation programs outlined in the contract to shift their focus toward food-related initiatives,” Orlando Public Information Manager Andrea Otero said.
Orlando extended the program for one month to conclude the program at the end of October.
Outside of The Roberts, a senior housing tower on E. Pine Street, residents were shocked to hear about the cessation of the bus that reliably showed up every Friday morning.
“There’s no other place around here where we can go, especially when we have our shopping carts with us,” Surma Redondo said. “I don’t understand how they can just close that service down and not get another service like it.”
Redondo said the bus usually took them in groups of up to 20 at one time to places like the grocery store, the bank, the library, and shops like Target.
Seniors First also offered transportation to its Neighborhood Lunch program at the city’s senior centers, which gave seniors a chance to socialize and eat nutritious meals.
As of Tuesday, the organization’s website said it was no longer accepting new transportation clients. A note confirming the end of the service was added on Tuesday afternoon, as much of the old information was actively being scrubbed from the website.
As word spread in The Roberts’ lobby, other residents said the public bus, although cheap, was much more difficult to use, leaving rideshare as their sole expensive option.
“Most of us don’t have automobiles. We need our groceries. Some of us are diabetic. We have special needs. We have to get medications, and we need to go to certain stores where they have our needs,” Carmen Oliveras said. “We really need this.”
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