Kelley Transportation worked hard to provide good service

By Kim Kelley

While I have quietly sat back and read article after article talking about how horrible Kelley Transportation Co.'s service was, I must answer the latest incorrect information that was published in the July 12 edition of your newspaper.

I noticed that Jeff Brune, executive director of the Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority, said, "We are overwhelmed with trip requests and are trying to meet the demand for service as best we can."

The article went on to say "the 200 trips within two days compares to about 200 taxi requests a week for Kelley Transportation."

I went back over our records for the last week we provided service, which was Saturday, June 24, through Friday, June 30.

We provided 1,419 one-way trips in that week, which averages out to 202 trips per day. Summertime and the end of the month were always our slow times.

This number would equate to twice the number of trips per day that the transit authority is trying to meet.

All of these rides comprised cash trips, coupon trips and the free Sunday rides that were offered.

This does not include any of the contracted rides with Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging or our daily courier runs.

And all these runs were made by vehicles we purchased without receiving 80 percent from the government as reimbursement.

Nor have we received reimbursement for operating costs. And all of this was run with a managerial staff of one full-time and one part-time person.

When my father-in-law, Claude A. "Nip" Kelley, started this company 47 years ago, his purpose was to provide safe and affordable transportation to the people of this community, and that was carried on when my husband, Terrence, took over.

We have struggled over the years with employee turnover, a problem that is felt by many small businesses, which in turn at times caused delays.

Mayor Jay Knudtson stated last Sunday on KFVS12 that two- to three-hour wait times are just unacceptable.

While I agree with that, maybe Mayor Knudtson is unaware that when the city's coupon program was started in the early 1980s, it was for the purpose of subsidizing transit needs.

It was not meant to serve 100 percent of residents' transit needs. There is a difference.

The sale of Kelley Transportation Co. to the county transit authority was an amicable sale that was in the works over a two-year span.

We hope nothing but the best for the transit authority, and we hope residents will reap the benefits.

And while I do not intend to point fingers, I must defend my family, company and former employees who worked hard to provide a safe, dependable and affordable service to this community for many years.

Kim Kelley is the former vice president/manager of Kelley Transportation Co.