To improve quality of life for individuals with disabilities and limited mobility by providing a new, best in class, affordable, paratransit service in the Milwaukee County area. Our Motto: On-time, safe, quality transportation! We hope to become a model for other communities and individuals hoping to develop better paratransit solutions.
We don’t want to simply replace transportation options currently being defunded and downsized, but will create the best transportation alternative for the community. The “you’ll get there eventually” mentality behind the existing transit and paratransit programs is not acceptable to us.
Through tiered membership options, we show our dedication to quality of service over profits.
We choose to evaluate complaints submitted to the Transit Plus program, identify causes, and design our service to eliminate or drastically reduce these problems by offering door-to-door service for any passenger/caregiver to travel without other paying patrons in the vehicle.
We want our organization to be recognized for its integrity. We must start with a culture of trust and responsibility within the organization or we will become like all the other public transit services. All suggestions coming from employees, patrons and stakeholders will be valued. No issue is too small to be discussed for merit. Only through open communication can we take ideas and turn them into innovation and financial improvement.
In order to achieve our mission and vision, we must create a product where all of the following are true:
Save Point Transportation Inc. started as an idea from David Zaniewski participating in the Froedtert Hospital Spinal Cord Injury support groups in the 2010’s. David went on to become a Froedtert Hospital Spinal Cord Injury mentor and participant in the Independence First transportation advocacy committee.
Basic research was conducted to determine the number of private companies offering paratransit services in the area and the cost of equipping micro-paratransit vehicles. Investigation into funding the business from grants and loans was performed but the startup cost of operating a two-vehicle business was a bit beyond David’s capability in 2017.
An additional spinal cord surgery in 2019 and Covid-19 in 2020 led to personal experiences with the lack of quality paratransit services in the metro Milwaukee community. Private providers disappeared from the market and personal Transit Plus service experiences led to a revival of the dream.
Covid shut down many services in 2020 and 2021, including access to transportation and medical services. David learned of Independence Living Centers in Wisconsin providing transportation services. Connecting with and learning from those program managers proved especially valuable. David learned more about quality vehicle equipment from an Independence First co-worker, but there were still knowledge gaps and the fears of starting a new business.
2021 and 2022 were years of recovering from Covid shutdowns. Many businesses reopened but paratransit was not among them. In 2022, Milwaukee county announced the termination of the on-demand paratransit service. David attended meetings and was re-connected with former co-worker Lauren Grudzinski. They talked about possible future dreams and the concept of Save Point was developed by Lauren. David retired in the spring of 2023 and Lauren talked about the need for transportation for people to get to her maker space dream. Lauren brought Dan Fritz into the fold during the summer of 2023 and Save Point started to become reality.
The paratransit business and budget plans were developed and modified over the next several months. Papers were filed for Save Point Non-Emergency Disabilities Transportation LLC to become reality in December 2023.
In the words of “Weird Al” Yankovic, “The Saga Begins”.