County-wide bus route will connect Sauk Prairie, Bluffview with other communities
Tim Damos / Capital Newspapers
Gary Fish, above, has been a driver for several Sauk County-run ride programs that benefit senior citizens and disabled people for over five years. He will be one of the first drivers for the county's new bus transit system, called The Bus, which will be available to everyone.
By Tim Damos, Capital Newspapers
Life without a set of wheels can be a drag, especially in rural areas.
But county officials are hoping to roll out a program June 8 that will provide a cure for the walking blues.
A new public transit system, called The Bus, will link Baraboo with Bluffview, Prairie du Sac, Sauk City, Reedsburg and Lake Delton.
The brainchild behind the program says the road to its creation has been a steep one.
"I think the perception has been that Sauk County is just too rural for this," said Ashley Nedeau-Owen, Sauk County's mobility manager.
| Click here to view a complete route list with bus stop times and locations |
| Active Google maps (Click on a link below) |
| Sauk Prairie |
| Bluffview |
| Baraboo |
| Reedsburg |
| Lake Delton |
Advocates of the new bus system point to census data that shows there were 2,319 Sauk County households without vehicles in 2006, and 7,066 households that qualified for transportation assistance based on federal poverty guidelines.
The number of aging and disabled people in the county is projected to nearly double in the next ten years.
The new bus system will be funded entirely through a $70,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which will cover vehicle fuel, maintenance, non-administrative staff and printings, Nedeau-Owen said.
It will be managed by Sauk County's Aging and Disability Resource Center, located in Baraboo.
The Bus is designed to meet the needs of those most in need of transportation assistance, said Bob Cassity of Baraboo, a Sauk County Board member involved in overseeing the program's development.
"I just hope that it works and the reason I'm hoping it works is that will mean we're serving the people that deserve it," Cassity said.
But the program isn't just for the elderly and disabled.
Anyone can catch a ride for a $2 fare, while people with disabilities, students and passengers over 60 ride for $1.
Buses will pull over and pickup anyone that flags them down along a route, as long as it's an appropriate place to stop. And those who live within one mile of a stop can call ahead of time — preferably at least a day in advance — to request that a driver pick them up.
The buses will make multiple stops in Baraboo, Reedsburg and Lake Delton on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. They will run between Baraboo, Bluffview, Prairie du Sac and Sauk City on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The plan was to use grant funding to lease two hybrid electric buses at some point down the line, but rule changes to grant programs eliminated that option.
So officials now hope to apply for additional grant money to purchase the buses, or seek money through the federal government's economic stimulus plan, Nedeau-Owen said.
Funding is key
Critics have raised concerns about the viability of the bus program. If grant funding disappears in the future, they say, the county's taxpayers would be on the hook for continued funding.
But Nedeau-Owen said the grant revenue streams funding the program have been in existence since the 1970s and seem to be reliable, considering a sharpened national focus on public transit systems.
"We're at a point in time now where we're seeing the effects of climate change, we're at peak oil and we need to be looking at something else," Nedeau-Owen said.
The same funding concerns existed in 1995 for a similar bus service, Rainbow Rider, a public transit bus system serving four counties in west central Minnesota.
"Every year we kind of wondered (whether grant money would come through)," said Harold Jennissen, Rainbow Rider's Director. "But I don't wonder anymore because we're so needed. The state and federal government would be pretty hard-pressed to eliminate those dollars from transportation because people depend on it and need it."
Rainbow Rider now provides more than 150,000 rides per year, and is funded entirely through grants, fares and service contracts with programs such as Head Start, Jennisen said.
If state and federal funding for the Sauk County transit system ever dries up, so would support for the program, Cassity said.
"If the day ever comes when we don't get the grants, then probably the program will be shut down," he said.
Elderly have concerns
With the new program set to begin, the county will eliminate its twice-a-week program that takes senior citizens to grocery stores in Baraboo and Reedsburg.
That's been a concern for the area's elderly who don't want to lose out on services, said Gary Fish, a driver for Sauk County.
"Their main concern is getting their groceries carried in for them," Fish said.
But Nedeau-Owen said the county will offer special help for those who need it. Other transportation programs for the aging and disabled will remain intact, he said.