Replacement for General Transportation discussed

To help provide a new transportation program starting this summer, the City of Fort Scott will provide $5,000 to Bourbon County Senior Citizens, Fort Scott City Manager Dave Martin said Monday during a meeting to address transportation services and community concerns.

Members of the community, General Transportation Committee, Bourbon County Senior Citizen Board, and Pitt Taxi met at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center to hash out a service system to replace General Public Transportation.

GPT is a service provided by the SEK-CAP (Southeast Kansas Community Action Program) since 2014 that will end June 30.

Martin said the city will help cover the initial costs.

"We have committed $5,000 to help with startup expenses to help with this transportation program," he said. "We'll see if we can make this work."

The money committed to the program by the city will go to the Senior Citizens to help cover labor and rent for Pitt Taxi, Martin said. Pitt Taxi is a transportation service currently provided in Pittsburg.

Kevin Marvin and Lora Strong co-owners of Pitt Taxi, a program provided in Pittsburg since September 2012. After talks with the GTC, Marvin and Strong will likely provide their service in Fort Scott as well once the current GPT fiscal year ends on June 30, they said.

The service, which would most likely begin in the last week or two of the GPT fiscal year, will be comparable to the Pittsburg service and will be based out of the Bourbon County Senior Citizens facility.

Rides will be provided from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Advance reservations will not be required.

The current system requires reservations be made at least 24-hour in advance.

Currently, Pitt Taxi does not have wheelchair accessible vehicles, Marvin said. He has looked into purchasing a wheelchair accessible vehicle, but the cost, even for one more than 10 years-old, is "very high," he said.

Cost per ride is $7 one-way or $10 roundtrip, with a 15-minute wait time, Marvin said.

A concern is it will cost about $3,700 per month to run the service in Fort Scott, Strong said.

"To get that, we'd need to get 20 rides a day, six days a week the whole month," she said.