PUBLIC TRANSIT; TWO OPERATORS WANT SAY IN CAPE COUNTY'S PLAN

Cape Girardeau County's new transit board needs to take stock of the taxi and van services already provided, say two transportation providers.

The County Commission established a five-member transit authority this week to better coordinate transportation services countywide.

While the transit board is new, transit services aren't. Cape County Transit Inc., a not-for-profit corporation, has been operating door-to-door van service since July 5, 1989. Kelley Transportation Co. in Cape Girardeau, a for-profit operation, has been hauling passengers for about 40 years.

Both organizations want to be represented on a transit advisory committee that the County Commission plans to name next week. The committee would advise the transit board. County officials have indicated that both transportation providers will be represented on the advisory committee.

Former Jackson mayor Carlton Meyer serves on the six-member board of directors for Cape County Transit. Meyer said county officials need to look at the services Cape County Transit offers. Those involved with Cape County Transit feel the County Commission has ignored their operation.

"They never did sit down and talk with us," said Meyer, who worries that the transit board will become "another layer of bureaucracy."

Dareld Davis manages Cape County Transit. Davis said, "We have been kept in the dark what role we would play."

But Commissioner Larry Bock insisted the commission isn't trying to undercut Cape County Transit. Bock said the commission created a transit authority in an effort to bring together transportation providers and improve services.

He said one of the transit board's tasks will be to meet with Cape County Transit and other providers. "I see it as a chance to operate more efficiently," he said. "I see the riders getting quicker service."

Bock has talked about the need for a centralized dispatching system. Meyer said both Cape County Transit and Kelley Transportation have centralized dispatching systems.

Kelley Transportation's Terrence Kelley said he believes the county's public-transit needs can't be handled by a single service.

All of the transportation players need to be involved, he said, including VIP Industries. VIP shuttles its handicapped workers to and from work.

"If we work together, I think we can put a program together that would be second to none," he said.

Kelley said there is a need for a centralized dispatching system with one telephone number that people can call for public transportation.

He said the county doesn't need a fixed-route bus system. "The bus systems are a bottomless pit. It just costs so much money to run them."

Although it has been around for more than a decade, Cape County Transit is relatively unknown to much of the general public, Meyer and Davis said.

The transit service has its office in Cox Memorial Hall at Jackson, Mo. The building formerly served as Jackson's city hall. The transit service operates from a small office in the building.

It is one of seven single-county transit operations in the state, Davis said. Six of the seven are in Southeast Missouri.

Cape County Transit operates Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for trips to grocery stores and other places, and until 6 p.m. for trips to doctors' offices.

Cape County Transit serves Jackson and the outcounty. It transports Jackson and outcounty residents to destinations in Cape Girardeau and Cape Girardeau residents to Jackson. But it doesn't haul Cape Girardeau residents to destinations within Cape Girardeau.

As a result, it doesn't compete with Kelley's taxi service.

Cape County Transit operates on a $130,000-a-year budget, most of it funded by various government agencies. Davis said personnel costs for the eight employees account for about $100,000 of the yearly budget.

The transit service gets money from Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging, Cape Girardeau County, the city of Jackson, the Medicaid program, the Missouri Department of Transportation and donations from riders.

MoDOT provides $43,000 a year to Cape County Transit. This year's budget includes $21,000 in funding from the county tax for senior citizen services. The Area Agency on Aging provides another $29,000 for contracted services, Davis said.

Cape County Transit hauls primarily elderly residents as well as those with handicaps for a nominal donation. Most donations are $1 or $2 for a one-way trip.

Anyone can use the van service, but non-handicapped and persons under 60 years of age must pay a full fare, which is double the standard donation. A Jackson-Cape Girardeau round-trip would cost $8 a person.

Davis said he has seen little demand for expanded hours.

The transit service made 13,000 trips over the past 11 months, hauling about 350 individuals in the county to various destinations.