Until now, she's counted on drivers with the Community Needs Van Service for help. For $1, they've picked her up at the grocery store, dropped her off at home and hauled her groceries to the front porch.
“To me, it's so important. It keeps my independence,” Rivera said.
That means in six months to a year, the program Rivera and others rely on could change. The Missoula Ravalli Transport Management Association provides the service now. In the future, Mountain Line, the lead urban transportation agency in Missoula, could take on the job. It also could ask MRTMA to do so on its behalf.
Directors from those agencies and DOT officials all say their goal is to continue providing rides to the elderly and disabled people who need them. But some people, like Rivera, worry their lives will be different.
Rivera, who moved to Missoula because she fell in love with downtown, said executives understand that many people use the service. At the same time, she said, they don't understand exactly how seniors and people who don't get around well use it.
In the summer, Rivera walks to a bus stop on Russell Street and takes Mountain Line to the Orange Street Food Farm. She shops, and when she's loaded down with heavy groceries and things like a 48-roll case of toilet paper, drivers from CNVS pick her up. Once in a while, they'll wait a few minutes for her if she's late, and once in a while, she waits a couple minutes for them, too.
Because she schedules her pickup time exactly when she wants it, she's able to hit the good deals around town. Drivers help carry her bags to her front door so she can buy in bulk.
She likes Mountain Line, but there's at least one trip in the winter when she won't take it. That's when she's sending out her Christmas packages and can't manage the walk to the bus stop. Then, she schedules an appointment to be picked up at home. Drivers help pick up her gifts there and drop them off at UPS, too.
Ideally, Rivera would like to use both Mountain Line and CNVS. With CNVS, she likes the flexibility, the cost, the drivers and the autonomy it allows her.
“It's a service that we need,” Rivera said.
DOT officials say the service won't disappear, but federal money isn't going to the right place, and the state needs to fix that problem. Public information officer Charity Watt Levis and Audrey Allums, in transportation planning, also point out that those vans Rivera rides aren't full. Rivera, too, said she's often the only passenger.
And as gas prices shoot through the roof, transportation dollars need to be used well, said DOT spokespeople. They also said both Missoula agencies will end up getting more money in these shifts.
Mountain Line and MRTMA directors met Monday to talk about the transition. Mountain Line general manager Steve Earle said any changes need to happen as seamlessly as possible, but details are in the works.
“We're really in the early stages of problem-solving,” Earle said.
MRTMA director Lyn Hellegaard said regardless of the outcome, folks in Missoula need access to those rides.
“We want to make sure the seniors have the service they need,” Hellegaard said.
Reporter Keila Szpaller can be reached at 523-5262 or at keila.szpaller@missoulian.com.
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