COUNTY TRANSIT AUTHORITY COMES TO MATURITY

The Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority is getting a $32,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation and hopes to get into the public transportation business by merging with Jackson-based Cape County Transit Inc.

The grant for a six-month period will pay for an administrative assistant, a transit consultant, legal expenses and miscellaneous costs to start up an office. The authority anticipates spending $10,000 for a consultant and $8,000 each for an administrative assistant and legal expenses associated with the planned merger.

The county is required to kick in $8,000 to get the grant, which will provide the authority $40,000 for July 1 through Dec. 31. The authority plans to request another grant from the state for the first half of next year, and the county also would have to provide a match for that money.

Cape Girardeau County has been trying for years to find a way to provide coordinated public transportation and eliminate the duplication of various agencies running buses and vans that leave a lot of people unserved. A lot of money and time toward that end have been expended.

If the merger comes about, the county finally will get into the public transportation business. And, if it doesn't, the authority will have found a way to permanently establish itself as yet another government-funded agency with no real purpose.