EVERETT — Shirley Allen pulls up a computer screen with a map showing the major roads throughout Puget Sound region.
Little dots on the screen show where all of her vans are at during any given moment.
“If anyone speeds, we get a big flashing alert,” Allen said.
She and her husband Les operate Mercy Transportation, a for-profit business transporting people to non-emergency medical appointments.
Most of their customers are Medicaid patients — which pays for the transportation — but the business also transports private patients and some veterans.
“This is definitely a growth industry just with the aging population,” Shirley Allen said.
She was just named Paratransit Operator of the Year by the Taxicab, Limousine &Paratransit Association, a national group representing more than 1,000 for-hire fleets.
One of the reasons she won the award was her and her husband’s eagerness to embrace technology, said Alfred LaGasse, the association’s chief executive officer, in a statement.
“Shirley is a true innovator in the field of paratransit transportation,” LaGasse said. “Her eagerness to implement technological advancements within her business is a true inspiration for transportation leaders everywhere.”
Shirly and Les Allen, who live in Everett, are relatively new to the industry.
She had worked in real-estate development and he had worked in construction finance. They decided to get out of the field when the housing bubble started growing.
“When our daughter got a zero-down, interest-only loan while working as a barista, we realized this was going to blow up and we needed to start looking for another line of work,” Shirley Allen said.
In 2006, they purchased Mercy Transportation. Shirley Allen said they found skeletons in the closet almost immediately.
“What we thought we were buying and what we actually bought were two different things,” she said.
The biggest skeleton was when the former owner was accused of Medicaid fraud. Armed federal marshals came to seize records. The Allens say the previous owner has fled the county.
“I’m such a namby-pamby rule follower,” Shirley Allen said. “It’s shocking when that happened.”
They realized early into the new business that they needed to learn a lot. So they joined the association to learn about the industry and make contacts to help them with problems.
“It’s really hard to ask your competitor, ‘Teach me,’” Shirley Allen said.
Mercy Transportation serves Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom, Island, San Juan and King counties. While people on government aid are required to take public transit, that’s not an option for many people who live far away from those options or who have to travel long distances to make their appointments.
“It shouldn’t take six hours to get to a one-hour appointment,” Shirley Allen said.
Mercy Transportation now employ 21 drivers, two dispatchers and an operations supervisor. Their drivers are given 80 hours of training before they log their first mile. That compares with four hours by taxicab drivers, the Allens said.
They’ve excelled at growing their business and taken leadership positions in the association, said Mike Fogarty, CEO of Tristar Worldwide in Boston, Massachusetts.
“I’m really happy for them,” Fogarty said. “It’s a pleasure to serve with Shirley on the Para-transit Steering Committee. They’re really wonderful people.”
Some of the people that the company transports are extremely grateful for the ride. Others are less so.
“It’s a tough job,” Shirley Allen said. “You’re driving in traffic with people who don’t feel good.”
“Under time constraints all day long,” Les Allen added.
While there’s a growing population, the number of rides that the company has given has actually dropped. In 2008, Mercy Transportation made 33,315 individual trips. Last year, the number of individual trips fell to 29,766.
That’s a function of government agencies tightening their belts during the recession, Shirley Allen said. The number drooped during the recession and is only now growing again.
“When times are great, then we make a big deal about helping our most vulnerable,” Shirley Allen said. “But when times get bad, they’re the first ones that get nailed.”
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