Isabell Pliler wheeled the bus into Norma Finch’s drive at the south edge of LaHarpe and tooted the horn. It took Finch a minute to climb aboard. First she had to shoo away a couple of neighborhood cats before they came on, too.
Such is the routine in the route of the Allen County Services to the Elderly bus.
“I can’t see to drive anymore and this is my only transportation,” said Finch, 76, as she settled into the seat behind Pliler.
Finch moved to LaHarpe last April after living 28 years in Texas.
“The bus is wonderful,” she gushed. “I use it at least twice a week.”
This time she had a stop at her bank in Gas and planned to pick up a few things at Walmart, including a bag of cat food. “A big bag,” she said. “I feed all the neighbor’s cats,” as well as her own.
Finch is typical of the 10 to 12 seniors who ride the bus each day, said Pliler.
“This is a lifeline for them,” she said. “Many people depend on us,” which includes Tonie Vest, who drives the bus Tuesdays and Thursdays; Pliler the other three days.
Bus use is for those 55 and older. The service is supported by a 1 mill countywide levy, which for this year raised $92,000. No charge is made for rides. The county tax money also supports senior centers in Iola, Moran and Humboldt.
Users are carried to shopping destinations, doctor appointments, banks, wherever they need to go. The only exception is to people’s places of employment.
The bus also is available to take seniors to movies, programs at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center and to view Christmas decorations. Users are encouraged to reserve rides by calling 365-1435 the evening before one is needed. However, Pliler carries a cell phone — 496-9404 — that she answers.
Few days are missed due to weather. Even snow this week didn’t phase Pliler, who has driven the bus since November 1993.
“If we can go, we go,” she said. “Actually, I like to drive in the snow, as long as it doesn’t get too bad. Of course, you have to know what you’re doing and you don’t want to take chances.”
Having the bus on the road as much as possible is important to users, she observed.
“We try to keep out and about so people don’t become homebound,” Pliler said.
She and Vest give themselves some latitude in dealing with requests for assistance.
“One lady likes to spend as much as an hour and a half shopping at Walmart. I schedule the bus so I can pick up others while she’s there,” Pliler said. “Another woman, in Humboldt, has a hard time getting out, so sometimes I do her shopping for her.”
While age 55 is the threshold for bus riders, Pliler, herself 58, said she had made exceptions, such as the time a handicapped woman a few years too young needed a ride to make an appointment.
“We try our best to help people and try to keep everyone happy,” she said.
The bus serves all in the county. The schedule has it in Iola all day Tuesdays and Wednesdays and in the afternoons on Thursday and Friday; in Humboldt on Monday and Thursday mornings; in Moran Friday mornings. People in the two outlying towns may request rides to Iola as well as destinations at home.
THE COUNTY’S bus isn’t too long in the tooth at 5 years old, but it has been driven 74,000 miles.
This week county commissioners signed off on a grant application to the Kansas Department of Transportation for a new bus, at a cost of $52,850. The county’s share in a 20-80 split will be about $10,500 for one that will carry up to 10 people at a time and have a wheelchair lift.
Once replaced, the current bus will be offered for sale, either by sealed bid or through the county’s annual surplus equipment auction, said County Clerk Sherrie Riebel.
