Access Brown County is trying to raise at least $5,000 this weekend to help sustain the county’s public transportation service.
Sunday, July 14 is Access Brown County Sunday, according to a proclamation read at the June meeting of the Nashville Town Council. On this day, local churches are being asked to have donation envelopes for Access available in the pews.
Access Brown County provides bus transportation to work, school, doctor appointments, shopping or other errands inside and outside Brown County. It is headquartered at the Brown County YMCA.
Access is supported by private donations, local government, the federal government through local agency Thrive Alliance, the Indiana Department of Transportation, and through user fees.
Seniors age 60 and older can ride Access buses for free. Other riders pay $5 one way in county and $7.50 one way out of county.
INDOT matches donations to Access, so if $5,000 can be raised on Access Sunday, it’ll become $10,000.
That money is sorely needed, board member Bob Kirlin told the town council last month, because insurance on Access vehicles has doubled in the past year — from $10,000 to $20,000, he said. “Insurance is killing us.”
The service Access provides is “really necessary,” said town council member Nancy Crocker. Reading the proclamation, she shared some figures: Access had 11,296 annual riders and 3,592 seniors rode for free last year.
Usage has risen from 2,500 trips and 42,500 miles in 2014 to 6,750 trips and 98,850 miles in 2018, said Kim Robinson, executive director of the YMCA.
“We are doing our best to keep the program going. The need for public transportation is most definitely a high priority and topic at many community meetings,” she added in an email last week.
Finding funding, though, has “always been difficult,” Kirlin said.
If you don’t plan to be in a church pew to get an envelope on Access Sunday, donations can be made at any time to the program in person at the YMCA, or by mail to Access Brown County, 105 Willow St., Nashville, IN 47448.
