CURB SERVICE: CITY, COUNTY STUDY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS

Cape Girardeau city officials wonder if they will have to cut services in the face of rising costs for the city's taxi coupon program, and Cape Girardeau County officials are wondering how they might be able to set up a countywide public transportation system.

A transportation study commissioned by the county will recommend county officials "take the lead in working with the various providers" to set up a single system of vans and shuttles, said Tom Tucker, executive director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission.

The study further recommends that a central dispatching system be set up and that the dispatching be handled by the county or contracted out to a private entity, Tucker said.

Tucker is putting the finishing details on the study, which he hopes to have to the Cape Girardeau County Commission by the end of the month.

He said there are already "a ton of" vehicles and agencies providing transportation around the county, including VIP Industries, the city of Cape Girardeau's taxi coupon program, Cape County Transit Service and Southeast Missouri State University's shuttle systems for Eldercare and student transportation.

In addition, Tucker said, several churches provide shuttle services for their members, and the East Missouri Action Agency uses buses for its Head Start program, "but those don't weigh in as the heavyweights."

Kelley Transportation Co., which contracts with the city for the taxi coupon program, also provides private taxi and shuttle service in Cape Girardeau.

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones wants to see a single, centralized fleet of vehicles that will take county residents where they need to go when they need to get there.

"I'd just like to see people be able to get to and from their homes and destinations in an economical and sensible way," Jones said.

He's already met with the various agencies and asked them to be "open-minded" about the transportation solution.

One of the possible solutions would be to take all of the vans the county has bought for various agencies and use them as shuttles, Jones said.

"We've got an awful lot of vans running around, an awful lot of vans with very few people in them," he said.

VIP Industries has a fleet of vans used to shuttle workers back and forth "and from 8:30 to 3, they just sit still," Jones said. "We would like to utilize those better. There's six hours at least that they just sit there, so how could we utilize those?"

The vans are not used while the employees are working.

Cape County Transit this year has provided about 750 one-way trips a month throughout Cape Girardeau, with a budget of a little more than $100,000, said manager Dareld Davis. Most of its customers are elderly or handicapped, and most are heading into Cape Girardeau.

Scott County Transit averages 2,000 one-way trips a month with an annual budget of $132,920, said Marilyn Schlosser, project manager.

"We have elderly and handicapped and we also do a run for early childhood special education where we pick up children from all over the area and take them over to Scott County Central," she said.

The commission often hears complaints from residents who, lacking private transportation, can't get from their homes in outlying communities in the county to doctor's appointments in Cape Girardeau, or in to Cape Girardeau or Jackson for grocery shopping, Jones said.

The board that oversees the county's senior citizens tax keeps getting requests from different groups who want money to buy vehicles to shuttle clients back and forth, he said.

"We've got vans everywhere and everybody wants a new van and nobody's getting any place," Jones said.

Tucker said a combination private-public system could be set up, such as now exists in Joplin, where the management is done by a private firm, but the vehicles are publicly owned.

Jones would like to see a private business step forward and contract with the county.

"We're not wanting to get into the busing business," he said. "The county does not have that in mind at all."

The existing public transportation isn't coming cheap, the regional planning commission report indicates.

"There's quite a bit of money being spent on public transit," Tucker said. "There should be enough funding to do a major piece of what we're recommending."

In 1997, $907,650 in state, federal, local and private funds -- including $104,082 in contracts and private donations, mostly to Cape County Transit -- was allocated for public transportation in Cape Girardeau County.

In addition, Tucker said, those agencies -- not counting the city of Cape Girardeau's taxi coupon service -- provided 396,342 trips in the county.

"There's a demand. There isn't any doubt about that," Tucker said.

The city of Cape Girardeau's taxi coupon program cost $236,750 for the current fiscal year. A grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation pays half the cost, and the city pays the other half.

Taxi coupon users can buy up to 16 coupons, which are good for one-way trips anywhere in the city limits, every month. Cost is $1 per coupon for the elderly and handicapped and $2 for all other residents.

In 1997, 91,680 coupons were available, and of those, residents purchased 91,168.

Kelley Transportation's bid for the program came in $80,000 higher than last year, and now city officials have to decide whether to cut services or add the extra cost to the city budget.

Raising the cost of the coupons is also an option, said Mayor Al Spradling III.

"We haven't explored all the issues. That may be one option in addition to either cutting service or cutting hours," Spradling said.

"We've looked at other transportation systems that could be instituted, and obviously, the cost is horrendous," he said. "The only way that could be supported would be, in my opinion, some form of a transportation tax that would be dedicated to that type of service."

Spradling said he doubted residents would support such a tax, and he would not endorse it.

The city's existing transportation sales tax is for road construction and has a five-year sunset clause. "Obviously, it would not maintain a long-term transit system," Spradling said.

Public transportation isn't a new idea in Cape Girardeau. The city was once home to a trolley system that operated from 1893 to 1934 and a bus service that operated from 1941 to 1969.

But, Spradling pointed out, the bus service went out of business "because it was not making any money. It cost too much to run and was in a deficit all the time."

And most Cape Girardeau residents aren't used to the idea of mass public transit, he said.

But for a segment of the population, public transportation is a necessity, Spradling said.

"It's the problem that we are faced with for those who don't have transportation or can't drive or cannot afford vehicles," he said. "That's where we're caught in this Catch-22 and we try to provide this service to the extent that we can, and I don't have all the answers, unfortunately."

Welfare reform, as well as public demand, is pushing the public transportation issue, Jones said. Low-income men and women making the transition from welfare to work will need some type of transportation to get to jobs or job training, he said.

"There's a lot of people, especially in the welfare-to-work situation, that don't have a car," Jones said.

Any transportation system will have to have public support at all levels, said Barb Stribling, who chairs the Community Caring Council's transportation committee.

"Some of the more formal, and let's face it, informal, structures need to buy into it for it to really happen," Stribling said.

The transportation committee will soon become a subcommittee of the welfare reform committee, she said.

Jefferson City has a bus system, Stribling said. City and county officials have looked at Joplin's bus system.

"I don't know what our problem is here," Stribling said. "Money or complacency or a lack of realization that there are people who are working, who are wanting to work, who are decent people who don't drive cars."

A mass transit system would have to be subsidized, she conceded. "It'll probably take some tax money, it'll probably take a grant or something," she said. "I think we're at an age in the city, it seems to me, that we should have some kind of transportation."

ABOUT CAPE'S TAXI COUPON PROGRAM:

Q: How many people use Cape Girardeau's taxi coupon program?

A: In 1997, 91,168 of the $91,680 available coupons were purchasede.

Q: How much do the coupons cost?

A: The coupons are $1 each for seniors and handicapped residents, and $2 for other city residents. The coupons will cover a one-way cab ride anywhere in the city limits.

Q: What are the service hours?

A: Cab service is available 24 hours a day. The coupons can be purchased any business day in the customer service department at Cape Girardeau City Hall.

Q: Is there a limit on how many coupons residents can purchase?

A: Residents can purchase up to 16 taxi coupons -- two coupon books -- every month.