A lack of affordable and reliable public transportation leaves residents of Hillsdale County searching for rides to work, including work destinations like Hillsdale Hospital and Wal-Mart. To respond to the need and a demanding market, local resident Charles Ferguson launched new taxi service Call and Go Now in hopes that it will help solve Hillsdale’s transportation crisis.
Ferguson attended a meeting in Jonesville on March 17 with employers from different areas of the county, such as Hillsdale’s city manager, the owner of Nylon Craft and the director of Dial-A-Ride, where they discussed the logistics of Hillsdale’s transportation problem and brainstormed possible solutions. They plan to meet again after they’ve gathered more data about the cost of possible transportation plans and the different needs in the community.
“I didn’t start this company light-heartedly,” Ferguson said. “I started it to make a living, hire some veterans that needed jobs, drive cabs, take people to work, the doctor, where they need to go.”
At the meeting, Ferguson presented a detailed version of how his taxi service can help Hillsdale County’s transportation problem.
“I worked on this very thing everyday for the last six months,” Ferguson said. “I’ve researched every way to provide transportation around here.”
Many local employees have tried borrowing cars from relatives or starting a carpool in order to get to work, but several members of the transportation meeting decided these solutions would not provide a reliable source of alternate transportation. Despite their effort, employees without their own cars may not arrive at work if their ride falls through.
“We’ve got tons of jobs — we’re just having trouble getting people to them,” said Susan Smith, who led the meeting and serves as the Executive Director of Hillsdale County’s Economic Development Partnership. “If I could have a hundred people that could drive to work everyday, I could place them today. We’ve got plenty of jobs right now, and we’ve got to find a way to make sure that employers get those jobs filled with people that show up.”
Employers are not alone in facing the ramifications that this lack of transportation has caused. Hillsdale County residents who need to go to Hillsdale Hospital for a simple doctor’s appointment have been calling ambulances when in need of a ride.
The responsibility of returning patients to their homes falls on doctors, maintenance men, and nurses, since ambulances cannot provide that service.
Hillsdale Hospital representative Alicia Shewman said the lack of transportation is so widespread that pregnant women without cars have walked to the obstetrics unit of the hospital after going into labor.
“The more we provide, the more they look at it and the more they know,” Shewman said.
Citizens in Hillsdale County currently have paid-access to transportation services provided by Dial-A-Ride and Key Opportunities. However, those services must run at different times in different areas, as they are both funded by the Michigan Department of Transportation.
Business representatives at the meeting plan to assess transportation needs at the workplace through surveys, and Smith will draw up a matrix of costs for possible solutions.
Ferguson said that he has finished his research — all he needs to do is craft a formal plan.
“People need to get where they need to go,” he said. “I don’t need a study to figure that out.”