The Associated Press
November 04, 2009 04:01 pm
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Pembroke’s country charm lured Boston-area native Cindy Milloy to the east Georgia city of about 2,300 people, and kept her there even after a muscular disease left her housebound in a region so rural it lacks a regular taxi service.
“For doctors’ appointments and stuff I have to rely on Medicaid transportation, but other than that, I’m stuck,” said Milloy, 53. Recently, however, she began using a government-supported bus service that lets her call and arrange a ride.
Federal officials are pouring more matching grant funds into these call-and-ride bus services designed to help Georgia’s 1.8 million rural residents, but cash-strapped counties are having trouble kicking in their portion.
The county budget woes threaten to put the state’s growing rural transit network in park.
Program managers are scrambling to find community resources to keep the systems afloat, just as job losses increase the number of rural residents needing cheap transportation.
Southwest Georgia Regional Commission director Dan Bollinger recently weighed ending the group’s bus service due to costs, despite a double-digit ridership increase.
“What we ended up doing was renegotiating with our subcontractors ... but if we had to go back to them again, we could forget it,” said Bollinger. He anticipates state and federal funding pullbacks that could put the program, serving counties several counties along the Florida and Alabama borders, back on the brink.
There are 112 small transit systems serving some of Georgia’s 1.8 million rural residents as part of the federal 5311 program, which provides cash for public transit in areas with under 50,000 residents. The Federal Transit Administration gives funds to each state annually; Georgia got $17.1 million for fiscal 2009, plus millions in stimulus dollars, capping three years of increased federal investment.
The cash funnels down to groups like Bollinger’s, which take transportation requests roughly a day in advance and drive passengers to and from their destinations for as little as $6 round trip.
It’s a major convenience for aging and low-income residents in regions where a grocery store may be 30 miles away. Managers say the recession is making riders out of laid off workers who never depended on public transportation before, but now need it for everything from a doctor’s visit to a job interview.
“They may have a car, but they just don’t have the gas money,” said Bollinger, who’s seen ridership go up roughly 15 percent since the recession started.
His coverage area includes Dougherty County, where a tire plant closure cut more than 1,300 jobs in December.
In Telfair County, officials blame layoffs for an uptick in the more than 8,300 rides provided by Middle Georgia Community Action in an eight-county region.
Meanwhile, “counties are having a difficult time coming up with their part of the operating capital,” said Nancy Smith, executive director.
The transit programs depend on federal and state funds with matching local funds, explained Erik Steavens, director of intermodal programs for the Georgia DOT, which coordinates 5311 funds. Federal cash usually covers about 80 percent of capital costs with the other 20 percent left to local leaders. Historically, DOT has persuaded state lawmakers to shell out enough to cover 10 percent of that balance, or roughly $780,000 a year.
“We’re gonna be striving to make that happen now,” Steavens said, noting it depends on what cuts come to the department’s general fund.
More problematic are operating costs, such as paying for drivers, fuel and maintenance. Typically, the feds cover 50 percent and leave local leaders to handle the rest.
“I will be doing good to be able to match our existing program, so being able to jump in to provide operating assistance is not something that is likely to happen,” Steavens said.
Back in Bryan County, where Milloy is anxiously waiting to see what becomes of her ride, leaders like County Commission Chairman Jimmy Burnsed find themselves in a squeeze.
He said recent budget trims in the county of roughly 31,000 mean the bus service must see more of a profit from ridership to survive intact.
“We don’t have a great deal of liquidity,” he said. “So it could potentially be a problem if we don’t get the ridership up.”
The Coastal Regional Commission recently unveiled the transit program serving nine counties, where transportation director Barbara Hurst said a 2005 group study concluded 40 percent of regional transportation needs were unmet.
Hurst is already looking for resources to keep the program going beyond the first year. Milloy hopes she’s successful.
“I seldom get to go to Walmart or to the mall,” she said. “This new transportation program has opened a whole new world for me.”
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