John Lowery, director of the RIM (Rock Island-Mercer) Rural Transportation, announced March 22 as the first day RIM Rural Transit will be operating, Lowery attended the Human Services Council meeting Wednesday, March 3, at Heritage Woods, Aledo.
RIM Rural, which is administered by Project NOW, will begin providing low cost transportation services in Rock Island and Mercer County's starting March 22.
The program offers transportation between any two destinations within Mercer and Rock Island counties for a nominal fee. From one to 20 miles the fee is $3; From 21-39 miles the fee is $5 and anything over 40 miles is $7. These are the fees for a one-way trip.
RIM Rural will have eight vans at their disposal to provide the transportation.
Lowery said the RIM Rural will attempt to facilitate trips to neighboring counties in cooperation with similar programs in those counties. "We don't cross county lines(other than the Mercer-Rock Island county border)," said Lowery. They might however, travel to a neighboring county's border and drop off a person there.
Lowery said there may be possibilities to use the system to travel from Rock Island county all the way to McDonough County where Western Illinois University is.
There are some limitations though. To start with, the program will operate only Monday through Friday. There will be no weekend hours.
Travel is restricted on weekdays from between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. All passengers and transfers must be completed by 5 p.m.
Reservations need to be made as soon as possible because there is a limited amount of resources available. People planning to use the service are initially being asked to give 48-72 hours notice.
This is a door-to-door service, meaning customers will be picked up at their home.
The program is funded through the Federal Transit Authority.
There will be a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the start of the Rural-RIM at 9 a.m. March 22 in Andalusia at the Andalusia Lions Club.
