By KIM ROBINSON, guest columnist
Being an efficient rural transportation service is not easy. But we do believe Access Brown County (ABC) is constantly evolving and improving. We never turn our backs on a difficult task and have steadily bettered our service, adding to the quality of life for Brown County citizens.
We have been able to do this by listening to our riders and learning from our drivers. We also have gained information from others who have experience in transportation, such as our Brown County Schools and our regional leader, Gateway Johnson County. We use the wisdom gained as a basis to focus on and improve our service goals and parameters.
After being located at the YMCA for four years and with the support of a local advisory group, we have steadily grown. We are providing curb-to-curb service five days a week. And we are branching out a little with our service spectrum by offering the chance to secure a bus and driver for a special or private occasion.
Special thanks go to the citizens of Brown County. Government, through the commissioners and the county council, has continued its partnership with Access by contributing $15,000 a year toward Access operations and providing the fuel for the transportation fleet. Without the fuel support, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Rural transportation services continually have to deal with the excessive cost of serving one rider at a time. The routing of a bus through the hills of Brown County is not a feasible service option. One of our highlights is the receipt of a grant from the Smithville Charitable Foundation that will allow us to purchase a smaller vehicle. This bus will be more efficient to operate and will get us to more places.
A very special thank-you goes to two longtime Transportation Advisory Committee board members, Donna Niednagel and Betsy Voss-Lease.
Donna Niednagel
Donna Niednagel served two terms on the TAC, serving as chairman of the committee for the last two years. Another of Donna’s major contributions was to bring in the concept of a faith-based partnership with transportation. Donna’s own church, St. David’s Episcopal Church, has been a steady and significant donator for Access. Donna has reached out to all our faith-based entities, seeking their support. She has proposed many creative ideas to enhance the Brown County transportation system by bringing ideas to the table, like using Access to carry a group to the farmers market in Bean Blossom. Thanks, Donna, for all this creativity and your leadership. We’ll miss you.
Betsy Voss-Lease
Betsy Voss-Lease has carried many roles for the TAC, starting as an original committee member of the Step Ahead group that started investigating ways to provide transportation to the citizens of Brown County in response to a Step Ahead Feasibility Study in 2001. She worked on the Community Wide Needs Assessment of 2004, which identified transportation as the second-highest community need. She continued in many roles, such as convening the necessary leaders required to make transportation happen in Brown County, and identifying a local administrative agent to work with the regional hub, Gateway, Access Johnson County. She served as a member and chairperson of TAC. Recently, she is responsible for the governance profile of TAC. She has donated her time and treasure. We thank her.
Warren Schade
Warren Schade is the Access Driver of the Year. He earned this title for 2018 by coming close to driving clients of Access a total of 18,000 miles during the year, more than any other driver. Warren accepted a glass bus designed and made by the Lawrence Brothers as a token of the appreciation at the January 2019 Transportation Advisory Committee meeting. Warren does not only give much of his time to Access, but also prepares and serves monthly lunches to seniors at Parkview Church of the Nazarene and is also a volunteer for TRIAD, a check-in program for the elderly and the disabled who need assistance. Congratulations, Warren, for your dedication to the transportation program for Brown County residents. You make a difference in our quality of life.
A very special thank-you to Lawrence Family Glass Blowers for the gift of the three Access Bus awards. They are beautiful. Thank you, Jim and John!
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Six-year totals (2014-2019 so far)
343,501 miles driven
24,366 riders
14.10 miles per rider
8,315 trips to work
4,633 trips to medical appointments
2,592 errands
7,208 “other” trips
13,438 senior riders
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The Access Brown County bus operates between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Any Brown County resident may request a ride, 24 hours in advance. Children under age 5 must ride with an adult; older children may ride alone with a parental consent form.
Call the Access dispatch center at 812-988-0185 and have the following information ready:
- name
- address
- telephone number
- date of birth
- number of passengers being picked up
- time of appointment
- name and address of destination
- estimated finish time
- whether or not you use a mobility device, and dimensions of wheelchair if used.
Dispatch hours are 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. An answering machine will take requests after office hours.
Fares are $5 one way in county, $7.50 one way out-of-county, and free for seniors 60 and older. Donations are accepted.
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