I pull into the parking lot of the Xenia Towne Center at 6:45 on a Tuesday morning. The parking lot is a hub for the Greene CATS Bus service. Despite having three separate bus routes and times, none of them have official bus stops.
Passengers have gathered in the far end of the parking lot where the buses have stopped. Richard Gibson has been a Greene CATS bus driver for 11 years.
“I started off driving trucks,” Gibson said from behind the wheel. “Went to school for trucks, tried that, didn’t like it. Then I went from that to charter buses. Then I left the charter buses and came to Greene CATS.”
Greene CATS bus drivers required a CDL to operate. Gibson's typical day was busy.
“You have a lot of regulars you meet and you meet new people,” he said. “Most of our passengers this is their transportation.”
Rebecca Fowler is a regular Greene CATS rider.
“I use it for work or to the grocery store,” Becky said. “If I didn’t have Greene CATS I would have to walk.”
The Greene CATS bus allows passengers greater flexibility than a regular metro bus. For instance, riders can call in advance to make deviations to the route that will pick them up or drop them off at locations that are up to a half of a mile off the regular bus route.
There are also what the bus drivers call community routes or scheduled routes. These are smaller, 12-seat buses that can be scheduled to pick passengers up at their house and drop them off anywhere within Greene County. “We get all kinds of passengers, disabled people, and we’re used to them, we know them,” Gibson said.
Shannon Webster, the Greene County mobility manager, said she’s come along on the bus ride this morning to share her experiences with Greene CATS.
“We just don’t fit the mold of what people think public transit is,” Webster said.
Shannon’s first experience with trying to find public transit in Greene County was as a single mother-to-be living in HUD housing, 28 years ago.
“Because I’m on medicaid they take you to and from your non-medical appointment,” she recalled. “Well, at the time, it was JFS (Job and Family Services) case workers using county cars. So I’m in a sedan getting driven, pregnant, back and forth to my appointments. At the same time the board of Developmental disabilities is providing services for their DD clients in their vehicles, so the powers that be (thought) if we can pool all these sources then we can provide a public transit. And here I am working for them 20 years later.”
You can flag down a bus driver anywhere along the route as long as the bus is in a 35 mile per hour zone or under.
As we go through Yellow Springs, Webster points out a senior housing development. Part of the grant process for funding the development was based on the availability for tenants to access public transportation through the Greene CATS’ flex routes.
“Because I don’t know if you’re aware of it but the Senior (Silver) Tsunami is coming,” Webster said. “2030 is going to be a desperate need for people who do not drive. You can’t get an Uber or Lyft in Cedarville, or Spring Valley, you know, some of those outlying areas.”
As the bus traveles its route, Gibson waves to people along the way who he knows from taking the bus. For him, the best part of the job are the passengers he meets. Webster refers to him and the other drivers as public servants on wheels.
If you know someone who does a job that we should know more about send me an email at rwilde@wyso.org.
