Cape Girardeau County transit to buy vehicles; ridership behind pre-COVID

Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority (CTA) is purchasing seven new vehicles for its fleet, which it hopes to receive in the next 90 days.

"We're getting two Chrysler minivans, which can hold up to two wheelchairs and three additional passengers, plus we'll be receiving five regular Toyota minivans, which can hold up to six passengers," said CTA operations director Susan Redford.

Tom Mogelnicki, the agency's executive director, said it continues to be difficult to obtain these specialized transit vehicles.

"We've been waiting sometimes a year-and-a-half to get them. In all reality, we should replace 10 vehicles each year because they have high mileages but the manufacturers haven't been producing them," he said.

Ridership

Mogelnicki said the number of passengers taking advantage of the county's service to get to doctors, hospitals, social service appointments and various other needs has not recovered to pre-COVID levels.

"We're still probably about 20% down (in ridership) compared to before March 2020," he said.

Redford said CTA still needs drivers.

"We always seem to be low between six and 10 drivers," she said, adding CTA drivers start out at $13 per hour with a 50-cent per hour raise after 30 days of employment.

CTA was formed in 2000 and is governed by a board of directors, appointed by Cape Girardeau's county commissioners.

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