The Cape Girardeau Transit Authority says their public transit services are experiencing a growing ridership.
While several public transportation services across Missouri are battling against low ridership, the CGTA says their numbers remain high.
The CGTA provides public transportation for all citizens of Cape Girardeau County: over 75,000 people.
Tom Mogelnicki is the executive director for the CGTA. While they still hope to see more people taking advantage of public transportation services in the future, Mogelnicki says low ridership is not a problem.
“We’re having more passengers all the time, it’s been growing for the last six years,” Mongelnicki said. “It’s not growing as fast as it did originally, but it’s still growing every year.”
Beth Glaus is the manager for parking and transit for Southeast Missouri State University’s Department of Public Safety. She says ridership for Southeast’s shuttle service has been on the rise since inception.
“Currently, there is a single shuttle service that provides routes around campus, of which there are six. The previous year, we had over 417,000 trips and the year after that, which was last year, we had over 488,000,” Glaus said.
Southeast’s shuttle service will be one of many transit authorities represented by the Cape Girardeau Metropolitan Planning Organization or MPO. This is a federally funded organization comprised of local government and transportation authorities to determine regional transportation needs.
The CGTA and the university shuttle service will work closely together on the MPO board, sharing a single vote.