A local committee is steering toward development of a coordinated, public transportation system to serve Cape Girardeau County.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission appointed the five-member committee last fall to explore suggestions made by a previous ad hoc transportation committee. That committee recommended last March that the Cape Girardeau County Commission establish a transit authority to coordinate transportation services for the public.

The committee proposed a three-year plan that included the possibility of establishing a fixed-route transportation system that would be run by the authority.

It was envisioned that a transit authority could contract for services with existing providers or directly operate a transit system. Under the plan, a transit administrator would be hired, and a central dispatching system would be set up.

The latest transportation committee is looking at how to better utilize existing transportation services, which already receive state and federal funding.

Charlotte Craig, director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, heads the latest ad hoc transportation committee. She said: "There are a lot of dollars coming into Cape Girardeau County. If all the existing providers could be coordinated with each other, then we could have countywide transportation,"

Cape Girardeau County Transit, VIP Industries, Southeast Missouri State University, East Missouri Action Agency's Head Start program, Kelley Transportation and Southeast Missouri Transportation Service provide government-funded van, shuttle-bus and taxi services.

Cape Girardeau County Transit provides general public transportation services for county residents living outside Cape Girardeau. The curb-to-curb service is available to elderly and disabled residents.

Kelley Transportation of Cape Girardeau is a private business, but it provides subsidized taxi service to the elderly, disabled and general public under a federally funded contract with Cape Girardeau.

VIP Industries operates workshops and other services for the disabled. It provides transportation for its clients.

East Missouri Action Agency's Head Start program transports children to and from the Head Start school in Cape Girardeau.

The university operates shuttle buses to transport students around its campus.

A transit study by the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission in 1998 reported that $907,650 in local, state and federal funding was being spent by VIP Industries, Cape County Transit, the city of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri State University on transportation services.

Even more money is being spent on public transportation services today. Southeast Missouri State was awarded more than $1 million last year to provide subsidized transportation services so welfare recipients can get off the dole and go to work. The federal government is footing most if not all of the bill.

While the program is still being finalized, most of the money is slated to go to 11 transportation providers in a seven-county area of Southeast Missouri, including Cape Girardeau.

Funding is expected to increase annually. John Reed, the program's director, said last year that funding could total $2.15 million by 2003.

That program wasn't even in place when the 1998 planning commission study was done.

The study found that VIP Industries, Southeast Missouri State, Cape County Transit and East Missouri Action Agency operated 42 vehicles ranging from station wagons to buses. Combined, the vehicles could carry 657 people. That doesn't include Kelley's taxis or the vans operated by Southeast Missouri Transportation Service.

SMTS is based in Fredericktown and serves more than 20 counties in Southeast Missouri. Its vans routinely make medical, shopping and recreational trips to Cape Girardeau.

But SMTS isn't allowed to provide in-county service under an agreement with the Missouri Department of Transportation's transit division. That's because MoDOT funds other transportation services in Cape Girardeau County.

"Everything a transportation system needs is in place. It is just not in place under one umbrella," said Craig.

State funding could help the county provide a coordinated system. A non-profit transit agency could seek funding from MoDOT to establish a coordinated transportation system with centralized dispatching, she said.

Craig's committee has met several times and could make recommendations to the Cape Girardeau County Commission this spring.

Craig said she doesn't know if the county needs a fixed-route transit system. "We may start out with on-demand, and routes may develop for themselves," said Craig.

The 1998 study concluded that an on-demand system would be best. "A fixed-route system, while potentially possible in the city of Cape Girardeau or between the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson, will not work in the out-county area," the study said.

The study recommended that public transportation be provided from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Cape Girardeau County commissioners said it makes sense to make better use of state and federal transit money by coordinating services.

"Everybody goes in all different directions," said Commissioner Larry Bock, who would like to see the various transportation services work together.

Craig said there is a need for public transit. The lack of a coordinated system poses problems for people. "It inhibits employment. It inhibits people accessing health care," she said.

Tom Tucker, executive director of the regional planning commission in Perryville, agrees there is a need for a coordinated transit system in Cape Girardeau County. "Everybody doesn't have a vehicle," he said. "With welfare-to-work reform now, there are a lot of people that need transportation to and from work."

The 1998 study reported that some 1,056 Cape Girardeau County households with individuals 65 years of age or older didn't have vehicles.

Tucker said a transit authority is needed to coordinate services. "You don't run anybody out of business. You maximize the use of those vehicles and haul a maximum amount of riders."