COUNTY TRANSIT AUTHORITY WANTS COORDINATED SERVICES

Cape Girardeau County is moving forward in establishing a coordinated transportation system for area residents.

The county commission established the fledgling Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority last year, hired a consultant and directed him to secure grant funds from the Missouri Department of Transportation to improve and operate transportation services.

Transit consultant Cornelius Henry, hired this month to assist the board, has 18 years of experience in transit operations.

MoDOT already has budgeted more than $307,000 in federal and state money to help operate transit services in Cape Girardeau County this fiscal year, but transit experts say the money is going to various organizations when the county needs one total system.

The $307,000 is part of about $1 million a year in local, state and federal money for four major transportation providers: VIP Industries, which shuttles its sheltered workshop employees; Cape County Transit, which operates out of Jackson; the city of Cape Girardeau, which has a taxi coupon program; and Southeast Missouri State University, which operates a campus shuttle system.

The state and federal money distributed in the form of MoDOT grants includes $179,072 for the Cape Girardeau taxi coupon program, $81,691 for Southeast's shuttle bus system and $46,557 for Cape Girdeau County Transit. Transit services must provide matching funds to secure money from MoDOT.

Matching funds needed

Phil Richeson, MoDOT's transit administrator, said the transit authority needs to control transit funding in Cape Girardeau County if it is to succeed. But in order to secure money from MoDOT, the authority would have to come up with matching funds, he said.

The authority hopes its consultant can provide some answers, including identifying funding sources and researching the feasibility of a fixed route system and centralizing dispatching of vehicles.

Meanwhile, members also are looking to Dunklin County as an example of how a good transit system operates.

Last year, the not-for-profit Dunklin County Transit Services Inc. made 485,000 one-way trips, racked up 545,580 miles and served 2,856 individuals.

Dunklin County Transit is a nearly $450,000-a-year operation with 30 buses and vans based in Malden.

Most of its funding comes from federal and state money, much of it distributed by the Missouri Department of Transportation or in the form of contracts with various social- services agencies. Money raised by service contracts goes toward the local match needed to secure the MoDOT funding.