Direct Connect

About the Program

Category: Transportation (Best in Category)

Year: 2020

Michael L. doesn’t know where he’d be without Direct Connect. He doesn’t drive and was bumming rides or walking eight miles to and from work when he discovered the low-cost, after-hours car rides that allowed him to keep his evening factory job.Willen C. was in the same situation. A manager at a fast-food restaurant, her shifts range from 5 a.m. to midnight and she couldn’t rely on the county’s daytime bus service for transportation. She feared losing her job, but then found out about the early-morning, evening and weekend trips offered by Direct Connect – a service she now uses weekly. St. Lucie County’s Direct Connect program, operated in two phases since 2017, has provided about 7,500 trips to low-income, disabled or elderly workers, college students and patients who needed rides when regular transit buses are not in operation.For some, the service has allowed them to keep a job and a roof over their heads. For others, it has allowed them to work a minimum-wage job while dreaming of something better in a college classroom. Using a variety of revenues, St. Lucie County has managed to fill the economic gap for people who wanted to better their lives but were lacking vital transportation to accomplish it.