Douglas County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a $312,728 grant for providing transport services to seniors and people with disabilities.

However, the grant is more than $250,000 less than what the county’s Community Development Department requested for six months ago — thus severely limiting the number of one-way trips provided for people who need the service.

Back in January, Douglas County requested $453,000 from the Denver Regional Council of Governments, which is a “planning organization where local governments collaborate to establish guidelines, set policy and allocate funding in the areas of transportation, personal mobility, growth and development, and aging and disability resources,” according to its website. Douglas County requested the grant money to provide funding for specialized transportation services to seniors, or those with disabilities.

“Douglas County transportation includes a broad range of service options designed to meet the needs of older adults and people with disabilities who require various transportation services to ensure quality of life and access to employment,” according to Douglas County officials in its grant resolution with DRCOG.

A $113,250 surplus from local contributions was included with the $453,000 DRCOG request, for an expected total of $566,250. With that, Douglas County intended to provide 8,900 one-way trips until June 30, 2025.

Now, that number of trips won’t be possible with less money.

In receiving $312,728, the county now projects to provide 4,236 one-way trips — less than half of what the county originally expected.

The transportation service falls under the “Federal Transportation Administration’s 5310 program.” It exclusively serves residents located in northern Douglas County’s Denver-Aurora Urbanized Area, and subcontracts the services of local transportation companies.

“Douglas County transportation providers utilize multiple funding sources and volunteer drivers to leverage grant funds and keep trip costs low,” according to Monday’s approved grant resolution with Douglas County.

One of the services, called the Douglas County First Call, is operated by Aging Resources of Douglas County, which sees an average of 495 first-call transportation requests per month. Additionally, there is a “to the rescue” service that plans to provide 1,113 one-way trips under the grant.

Between total costs and estimated trips, “to the rescue” services cost $60 per trip and regular services cost $35 per trip.

During Tuesday’s Douglas County Commissioner meeting, Douglas County resident Jill Campbell expressed concerns for people on dialysis needing to be transported to care.

“If you’re looking at a dialysis patient, and the transportation services are less than 5,000 trips, dialysis would be three times a week times 52 weeks a year, that’s 156 services for just one person,” Campbell said.

Alisson Cutting, grant advisor for Douglas County’s Community Development and Services department, said: “we don’t limit or we don’t project how many people this will serve, we can only project the number of units.”

Despite a decrease in transportation grant dollars and service trips, Commissioner Lora Thomas on Tuesday lauded efforts by the county’s Community Development Department.

“It’s always important when we are able to partner in a way that helps our citizens,” she said.