TAXI SERVICE WON'T CLOSE, SAYS KELLEY; COMPANY WILL HONOR BID FOR NEXT YEAR'S CONTRACT

Kelley Transportation Co. will continue its taxi service in Cape Girardeau.

City Manager Mike Miller met Wednesday with Terrence and Kim Kelley, owners of the taxi company, to work out details for the subsidized program. The Kelleys agreed to honor their bid for the next year.

Terrence Kelley had said Friday that he would withdraw his $374,800 bid for the service after his contract expired in July.

"I was just really down and disheartened because I wasn't able to provide the service like it should be provided," Kelley said. But much of those problems were out of his control, he said.

Now that Kelley has met with city officials he said he is ready to try again. "We really want to continue," Kelley said. "I'm happy that we can work this out."

Kelley Transportation Co., which has been operating since 1959, has been providing the city's taxi service since the early 1980s. There is no other public transportation system operating in Cape Girardeau.

Earlier this month the city had applied for a $170,545 grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation to fund the program. The city would have to match the grant amount to pay for the taxi coupon service.

During a public hearing about the grant and taxi service, residents complained about their long waits for taxis. Council members often hear complaints about the service and forward those to Kelley.

Kelley acknowledged problems with being able to hire an adequate number of drivers for the taxi service. Six drivers work 12-hour shifts six days a week to run the taxi service in the city, and that doesn't include a driver for a wheelchair-accessible van.

Miller said Kelley and the city have agreed to work out their differences. "We both agreed to work together and work out the problems," he said.

But he cautioned that residents still have to be mindful of some problems Kelley faces as a business owner. Kelley has said that his greatest problem is finding enough drivers to operate his service, but two people have applied for the job this week.

"And we're going to try some new things the first of the month," he said. "Maybe things are changing around."

Not finding enough workers is a problem that many businesses are having now, Miller said, so the public has to keep that in mind.

About 40 percent of Kelley's business comes through the city's coupon program. Residents can buy 14 one-way taxi coupons each month. The coupons, which cost $1 for the elderly and $2 for all others, are good for one-way trips within the city limits.

The taxi program costs $433,630 a year, and $92,540 of that amount comes from the sale of the reduced-price coupons. Kelley is paid $374,800 to provide the service. The remaining $341,900 comes from the state grant.