Easier riding

In south Cape Girardeau, where the unemployment rate is highest in the city, many people are too poor to own vehicles, too poor to drive to work.

All over town and throughout the county, there are elderly residents who cannot drive but are still healthy enough to get out on their own.

Inside the city limits, the only means of public transportation is a taxi coupon program, a university campus shuttle system and van services for disabled residents. Many people simply stay at home rather than wait up to an hour and a half for a taxi.

To some, the solution to the problem seems simple.

"They need a bus system," said 22-year-old Keisha Jones, a resident in south Cape Girardeau. Jones says she can't afford a car but still has to get her business done. So she walks.

"What other choice do you have?" she asked.

Added Robert Woods, 19, "Cape is getting a lot bigger. We got a new bridge coming through here, you see everybody walking everywhere. It's going to get cold here soon. There's no reason we couldn't have three, four, five buses."

It isn't that easy, say those charged with handling the county's transportation needs. It takes hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of tax dollars to operate a fixed-route bus system. Public transportation programs never make money or break even.

Yet Cape Girardeau and Joplin are the only two Missouri cities of more than 35,000 that don't have bus routes.

The Missouri Department of Transportation is about to embark on a study to determine exactly how much of a need there is for a fixed-route bus system in Cape Girardeau and in neighboring towns. MoDOT will also look into how much it will cost to meet those needs. That study is one of the first major transportation steps taken under the watch of Jeff Brune, the county's transit authority executive director.

The authority began as a grass-roots venture two years ago and was organized by the county commission to become a public entity, which would draw more interest -- and more money -- from MoDOT and the Federal Transit Administration.

Brune, who has been at the helm one year, says it is time to look at ways to expand, organize and improve public transit within the county.

Bringing a fixed-route bus system won't be easy, particularly in Cape Girardeau, where city officials say the city can ill afford to update a cramped police station or replace worn-out vehicles.

Without rearranging priorities or "finding new revenue," Cape Girardeau will not be able to afford a fixed-route bus system, said city manager Doug Leslie. While federal, state and nonprofit funding is available, the city will have to come up with a lot of money to get those grants.

As it stands, elderly and disabled people can purchase taxi coupons for $1 apiece. Everybody else pays $2 per coupon, but no one can buy more than 14 per month. For people who would use the coupon program to get to work every day, it would cost well over $100 per month once coupons were used up and regular taxi fares were paid.

Long road to system

The process of starting a bus-route system is complicated and bureaucratic. Many local governments and nonprofit agencies are involved, along with the state and federal government.

It's not as simple as a city or county determining that it wants a bus route and convincing voters to pay for it. Bus systems are generally too costly for a municipality or county to pay for without some financial help, so federal and state funding plays a huge role in any public transit program.

The Federal Transit Administration and the Missouri Department of Transportation have to be convinced that a program is needed before they designate funds. They also have to be convinced there will be ample local investments.

So the more a city aligns itself with other entities, the better chance it has to pull down more money from the FTA and MoDOT.

The Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority has yet to garner the type of clout to become the umbrella organization that oversees public transit in the county. More established authorities, such as the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, coordinate trips to and from the surrounding cities.

The local authority is still young. It took several bureaucratic steps to get started, beginning with a study by the regional planning commission. Eventually, the county commission established the authority.

Now, Cape Girardeau has more pull than it had when Cape County Transit Inc., a private nonprofit company, was running a shuttle service in Jackson. The private company is now a public entity. MoDOT and the FTA always give public entities a higher priority when it comes to funding.

As it stands today, there are several public transportation organizations in the county, most of them geared toward seniors and disabled residents. A 1998 study by the SEMO Regional Planning Commission determined that $907,000 was spent in the county for all of them. They include the taxi coupon program, the Cape Girardeau Transit Authority shuttle service, SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence and VIP Industries.

The transit authority's service and the taxi coupon program are available to the public. The other organizations get money from specific government agencies that require them to serve disabled residents.

One of the main purposes of the authority would be to merge these organizations, making the transit system more efficient with the ability to draw more state and federal subsidies. Brune said the study will help create a clearer picture of how that might be accomplished.

Taking on the challenge of a fixed-route bus system, however, would be the authority's biggest challege, especially considering the economic conditions. Its cost would depend on the size and scope of the operation.

Whatever the cost, MoDOT and the FTA usually require a 50 percent local match on operating costs and a 20 percent match on capital costs.

Currently, the Cape County Transit Authority has a $350,000 budget, with half of that money coming from local sources such as the Area Agency on Aging, the Workforce Investment Board, Cape Girardeau County and the city of Jackson.

Jefferson City's system

About $150,000 per year would have to be added to that budget to operate a city bus system the size of the one in Jefferson City.

With 39,000 residents, Jefferson City is a good comparison to Cape Girardeau in terms of population, although being the seat of state government gives it a different economic makeup.

Jefferson City's bus system dates back to 1934, when buses replaced street cars. A private, for-profit busing business gave up the Jefferson City system in 1966. It was then operated as an authority and subsidized by the city until 1977, when it was made a city division under the department of public works.

In 1981 -- the same year Cape Girardeau began its taxi coupon program -- Jefferson City established Jefftran as a department of transportation that oversees parking, airport services and the transit system.

Jefftran's 22 buses operate from 6:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Jefftran's largest bus can seat 29 passengers with space for 10 to 15 to stand.

The buses are highly visible on the streets of downtown Jefferson City. At certain times of the day, the buses carry only a half-dozen people, but, according to transit director Tom Hood, during the peak time around 2:45 p.m., almost every bus is loaded to or near seat capacity with some of the buses carrying several people standing.

Those who use the bus system give the transit system high marks for reliable, inexpensive and friendly service. Vivian Hardiman, a grandmotherly woman who laughed when giving her age as "well past 50," has been using Jefftran since its inception.

Hardiman has a senior citizen's pass that allows her unlimited trips for just $15 a year. The fare for regular bus service is 50 cents, with free transfers.

Several times a year, when Hardiman needs to go someplace where Jefftran doesn't have a nearby stop, she takes advantage of the Handi-Wheels program, which provides curb-to-curb service for those with disabilities at a cost of $1 per trip.

One important difference between Jefferson City and Cape Girardeau is the fact that the capital city last year was designated an urbanized area, according to the census.

This designation means that the area has 50,000 people in a certain area in and around the city. It also means that MoDOT no longer is the go-between between cities and the FTA.

The urbanized area must form a metropolitan planning organization or it will no longer receive federal money. The planning organization gives the urbanized area stronger bargaining power in regard to obtaining federal money, but it also requires much more training because applying for funds directly to the FTA is a complicated process.

Brune will soon begin training on FTA regulations so he'll be ready when the Cape Girardeau area receives urban status, which many expect to happen at the next census.

Hood, the transit director of Jefferson City, said it's too early to tell how much financial benefit will come to the area due to the metropolitan planning organization.

But so far, not much has changed except for adding staff hours to deal with FTA grant applications. The city offers a fixed-route bus system inside the city, but does not have a coordinated route with nearby towns.

In total, it took $1.26 million to operate Jefferson City's transit system last year when it was not yet an "urbanized" area. The federal government paid for about $530,000 of that amount; the state chipped in $108,000; and riders' fares contributed $91,000. That left the city paying $500,000 toward the city transit system.

By contrast, the city of Cape Girardeau pays about $130,000 per year toward the taxi coupon program.

For a number of years, Cape Girardeau has gotten by rather cheaply in regard to public transit, at least compared to many other significant cities in Missouri.

Local officials generally back off voicing an opinion one way or another on whether they would support a fixed-route bus system in Cape Girardeau or in Cape Girardeau County.

Most of them are waiting to see what MoDOT's study says, which should take about six months to complete.

Staff writer Marc Powers contributed to this report.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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