Laguna Woods City Council on April 2025 approved changes to its Senior Mobility Program, increasing most rider co-pays, extending and amending the city's agreement with Cabco Yellow Inc. (dba California Yellow Cab) and allocating general-fund support for the two-year budget cycle beginning July 1, 2025.

City staff described the program as a countywide-style taxi subsidy open to Laguna Woods residents age 60 and older that allows trips anywhere in Orange County (and to the VA in Long Beach) so long as a trip starts or ends in Laguna Woods. Staff said enrollment has grown far beyond expectations: about 5,500 residents enrolled by Dec. 31, 2024 and staff reported enrollment just under 6,300 at the meeting. In the program's first 18 months participants took almost 30,000 trips totaling more than 250,000 miles and the city spent just under $786,000 over that period, staff said.

Because short trips (0'to'10 miles) account for roughly 60% of trips, staff said it prioritized maintaining deep affordability for those rides. Under the council-approved structure most short trips will move from the current $5 rider co-pay to $8; the city's share for a 0'to'10 mile trip was described in the staff presentation as $10.50. Other mileage tiers and destination fares were revised as shown in staff materials; John Wayne Airport fares were changed from a $25 fixed one-way rate to a proposed $40 one-way rider co-pay, with the city's portion of that trip described in staff remarks as $12. The proposal also creates $0 fares to three regional transportation centers (Irvine Station, Laguna Hills Transportation Center and Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center) tied to a $325,000 Orange County Transportation Authority EMSD grant the city received.

Staff recommended and council approved an extension and amendment to the city's existing contract with Cabco Yellow Inc. (doing business as California Yellow Cab) that implements the new co-pay schedule and extends the current agreement through the 2025'27 budget cycle; staff said the amended agreement will be re-competed after that period. Council and staff emphasized the city's continued use of a taxi provider (rather than ride-hailing platforms) is driven in part by Measure M2 grant rules and other program funding constraints, though staff said they are monitoring technology and app-based options for future iterations.

Funding and implementation: staff recommended the council anticipate transferring roughly $812,000 from the general fund over the two-year cycle to support the program, roughly split as $406,000 per fiscal year, with the OCTA grant and the city's regular OCTA senior mobility monies covering additional costs. Staff said monthly invoices already have been large (one March invoice exceeded $83,000), and that the city does not limit trip counts per participant.

Public comment: speakers at the meeting generally supported the program and asked about scheduling, on-demand apps, and comparisons with other jurisdictions. Staff said Yellow Cab operates a demand-response service and maintains a dedicated telephone booking line for the program; it does not currently provide an app-based map-tracking interface for this program. Staff added they will run outreach to re-enroll the 6,000+ participants ahead of the July 1 changes and that future renewals should include public-facing online enrollment.

The council approved the extension and amendment to the California Yellow Cab agreement and the proposed co-pay schedule effective July 1, 2025. The motion passed unanimously.