Plans to launch a free transportation service for elderly people in Franklin Park are on hold as officials explore whether such a service could be cost-effective while improving on what's already in place.

A summer survey by the borough demonstrated sufficient interest in the service would complement the use of Allegheny County Access vans, officials said.

"It's unusual for a municipality to get involved with senior citizen transportation," said borough Manager Ambrose Rocca, which is why borough council is proceeding with caution. The county Access service is available, he said, but some seniors have complained that it can take two hours to get a ride.

Forty-five seniors polled said they would use a borough-sponsored program, which Mr. Rocca said is less than a 1 percent response rate. But as municipal surveys go, receiving 45 positive responses is not as low as it might sound.

One bright spot: 65 people said they'd be willing to volunteer to drive their own vehicles to help out, which is why Mr. Rocca said the council majority has leaned toward a low-cost, all-volunteer model as being the best option.

The borough would contract with an independent provider to coordinate rides.

But Councilmen Ash Marwah and Andrew Hrishenko disagree. Mr. Marwah said the borough has more than enough money to pay for a full-service program using a dedicated van.

"It is a vital service now required in suburban communities where there is infrequent [Port Authority bus] service or none at all for the local grocery store, doctor's office or shopping mall or hospital," he said, noting that neighboring Ross sponsors such a service.

Mr. Marwah has tried to work out a deal with North Hills Community Outreach.

The agency, which runs a similar service in the Allegheny Valley, has said it could operate a van in Franklin Park for about $96,000 a year.

Mr. Marwah and Mr. Hrishenko sought to reopen the budget in January to reallocate money to North Hills Community Outreach for such a service. The effort failed, but council President Martha Creese said it had nothing to do with council abandoning the idea of free senior transportation.

Mrs. Creese was upset that Mr. Marwah had acted on his own after council and Mayor Reynolds Clark stated several times that they want to set up a program as much as he does.

"Mr. Marwah has personally indicated to Community Outreach that only he and Mr. Hrishenko will continue to look for ways to provide transportation to seniors in Franklin Park," she said. "This is a very misleading statement on his part."

Meanwhile, Mr. Rocca said the main problem is that no track record exists for the kind of service that would make sense for Franklin Park.

Ross has a program similar to what Mr. Marwah has in mind, but, Mr. Rocca said, at $15 a ride, it is too expensive and tailored more to serving a single destination, Ross Park Mall.

"We're very conscious of the cost -- $30 is very high to take people to the mall and back," the manager said.

A municipal-based service in the Allegheny Valley also is different because it has grant support through a hospital, said Fay Morgan, Community Outreach executive director.

"While our 14-passenger shuttle works great in Sharpsburg, Aspinwall, Blawnox and O'Hara, thanks to a great partnership with the St. Margaret Foundation," she said, "it may not be the right model for Franklin Park."

Ms. Morgan intends to present a proposal for developing a program in Franklin Park in which volunteers are recruited, trained and supervised to provide transportation using their own vehicles.

Each community is different, she said, "and we are committed to helping Franklin Park and its citizens find the program that's right for them."

Mayor Clark added that "we're trying to find a program that makes sense for a borough of our size and for the number of people who would use the service.

"Just buying a van and starting to take phone calls isn't a way to start a program," he said.

Neither is relying on volunteers without ensuring adequate training and addressing liability issues, concerns raised by Mr. Marwah.

"Everybody who is sitting around the table thinks it's a good idea," the mayor said. "We're just not there yet."