A task force made up of a number of Lake Area civic organizations has joined forces to study various ways the transportation needs of the Lake Area's developmentally disabled, senior citizens and others who don't own automobiles can be met.
This spring the task force, which includes representatives from several developmentally disabled organizations, all three Lake Area counties and other civic organizations, have been holding a series of meetings to address the problem.
The task force has set itself the goal of finding an answer to the need to "provide transportation to persons within the tri-county Lake Area."
The group held a strategic planning meeting in late May to brainstorm ideas for creating "a plan for getting it done."
The idea for public transportation that serves the needs of those who don't own automobiles within Miller, Morgan and Camden counties was explored by a number of organizations, including the Lake of the Ozarks Council of Local Governments. However any such plans to move forward with solution has continually bumped into the same obstacle the lack of any public funding source for public transportation. By combining their efforts members of the task force hope to meet that problem head on by combining some public transportation sources with support from the Lake Area business community.
At a meeting held in April, Camden County Developmental Disabled Resource (CCDDR) Director Ed Thomas, said, "the problem of providing transportation for citizens who don't have a private means of reaching their jobs is acute in the Lake Area and will soon become critical if something isn't done."
He said while his main interest is in finding transportation options for the developmentally disabled in Miller, Morgan and Camden counties, there are many other residents who do not have their own means of transportation and often find it impossible to get to and from their job, the doctor's office, the grocery store and other important destinations.
For instance Thomas said, of the 34,822 owner-occupied housing units in Camden, Miller and Morgan counties, 3.4 percent do not own a vehicle and, of the 14,784 renter-occupied housing units in the three counties, 10.2 percent do not own their own means of transportation. He said because the majority of those individuals have jobs, they are forced to rely on others to take them to and from work.
In a paper provided last week by CCDDR's Jeanna Cupp, Thomas said at the most recent task force meeting it is his belief the business community has a vested interested helping the task force provide transportation options to members of the community who do not own automobiles.
"Business owners have a vested interest in a public transportation system," Thomas said. "A regular stop at their business could help eliminate lack of transportation as a cause of employee turnover and bring new customers into their location. Once a regular route is established, an Uber-style system could help cover rural areas if funding will not sustain regular routes there."
Uber is an Internet-based transportation service that allows persons without vehicles who live in areas where public transportation is scarce to utilize a smart phone app to obtain a ride that will, for a fee, take them to and from a specific destination.
In addressing task force members, Thomas presented maps showing major roads, churches and other destinations within the Lake Area, which could be used as regular pick up and drop off sites if a standard transportation route could be established to best serve the major population areas within Miller, Morgan and Camden counties.
However, he said, another problem would be finding a way individuals who do not live near those regular drop-off/pick-up sites could get there.
He said he believed one way to solve that problem would be for the task force members to seek help of churches and other nonprofit community organizations that might be willing to use members own vehicles to pick up riders and transport them to the regular pick-up and drop-off points of a Uber-style public transportation route.
In suggesting how the churches and other organizations could help, Thomas said, "When a person calls in (to the Uber central phone number) for a ride they would be given the contact information for the individual drivers covering their area. Then they would have a choice in who they contact for a ride to the regular pick up location."
Thomas believes some organizations such as churches, schools, food pantries and others that have vehicles that go unused for long periods of time each day would be willing to help.
The task force also agreed its first objective would be to conduct a "needs assessment to figure out where the greatest needs are," then work with members of the public as well as the Lake Area's largest employers to come up with a approximate number of riders that would utilize such a transportation system.
The task force also discussed the possibility that selling advertising space on the vehicles used for an Uber-type transportation system could work as a funding mechanism. The need to get elected officials in all three counties involved in the project if the task force is to obtain the clearest picture possible of exactly what the public transportation needs of the Lake Area are is important, the CCDDR information said.
Task force members agreed to approach Lake Area elected officials to see if they would attend future meetings, speak with OATS (Older Adults Transportation System), the Missouri Department of Transportation and other government entities about the need for increasing public transportation options in Miller, Morgan and Camden counties and to determine if there are any government programs available that could help with funding.