County travel cheaper for seniors

A new program offered by the Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority will make getting around the county cheaper for senior citizens.

Beginning June 6, senior citizens will be able to purchase up to 8 coupons a month for $3 each that will allow them to travel one way from any point in the county to any other location, interim executive director Tom Mogelnicki said Thursday. The coupons must be purchased in advance to take advantage of the program, he said.

The program is designed to use the $40,000 in new funding approved last year by the Senior Citizens Service Fund Board to supplement the transit money provided by the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging. Those funds pay for trips for medical services and nutrition needs, but often run out about two weeks into every month, Mogelnicki said.

When the transit authority first started providing rides under contract with the area agency on aging three years ago, it had 150 riders signed up for the program, Mogelnicki said. "Now we have 600 signed up and the same amount of money, and" the riders "want to know why I have no rides."

To use the program, senior citizens can purchase their coupons at the transit authority offices, 937 Broadway in Cape Girardeau, on Wednesdays during normal office hours. There will also be a transit authority representative at the Cape Girardeau and Jackson senior centers on the first Thursday of each month from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Check back at www.semissourian.com for updates or read Friday's Southeast Missourian.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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