By Pete Chiodo
Meadville Tribune
Cochranton-area seniors citizens looking to make a trip to Meadville are being encouraged to leave the driving to CATA.
On Wednesday, representatives of the Crawford Area Transportation Authority and Active Aging Inc. plan to meet with Cochranton seniors to discuss a new bus service between Cochranton and Meadville.
The meeting is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cochranton Fire Hall.
Current plans include a service that would provide Cochranton seniors with door-to-door transportation from their homes to any Meadville destination (or vice-versa) for a one-way fare of between $3.25 and $3.75, depending on the destination’s pricing zone.
“We’ll take them anywhere in Vernon, Meadville or the West Mead area,” said CATA Operations Manager Douglas Sekerski.
There would also be a special one-way fare of 50 cents for a ride to or from the Meadville Senior Center at the Lew Davies Community Building on Park Avenue.
Both offers are currently for Mondays only.
That could change, depending on the response CATA officials receive at Wednesday’s meeting.
“(Mondays) is our tentative plan,” Sekerski said. “We’ll know more once we get some feedback from the people down there. They might want two days a week, three days. We’ll see what kind of response we get.”
Representatives of the Meadville Senior Center are hoping that the new service will open up the center to a whole new clientele.
“We’re excited about it,” said Active Aging Community Service Director Pam Roberts.
Asked if the center currently gets many seniors from Cochranton, she said, “We don’t. And the ones that do come drive. This will give them a better opportunity to come here on a regular basis, and for those that have never been here to avail themselves of all the great services we have to offer.”
Sekerski said the new routes could go into effect within weeks.
“We will have a talk with the director (of CATA, Tim Geibel) right directly after that meeting,” he said. “We’ll discuss it and then we should have it started within two to three weeks, probably before December.”
Sekerski encourages seniors to attend Wednesday’s meeting. There they can have any questions answered and will have an opportunity to schedule transportation.
“At the meeting we’ll have cards, and it’s a real simple card they fill out,” said Sekerski. “We can get their information, enter it into our system, and then it’s just a matter of them calling to schedule a ride.”
n More information: Call CATA at 336-5600 or Active Aging Inc. at 336-1792.
Pete Chiodo can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at pchiodo@meadvilletribune.com.
