Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Greg Gates & Steve Davis share the latest from Reagan Mass Transit District

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Talk Line: Greg Gates & Steve Davis share the latest from Reagan Mass Transit District · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley. You've joined the Waking crew here
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one and a fourteen sixty w
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  Speaker 1: i X. And it's eight fifteen on your Wednesday morning,
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  Speaker 1: and you know what that means. It's now time for
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  Speaker 1: talk line and I'm joined in the booth once again
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  Speaker 1: by our good friends from the Reagan Mass Transit District,
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  Speaker 1: Greg Gates, Steve Davis. Gentlemen, how are you good?
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  Speaker 2: Good? Good?
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  Speaker 1: Little more enthusiasm right here.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: It's Wednesday. It's Wednesday.
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  Speaker 1: It's still too close to Monday and not close enough
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  Speaker 1: to Friday.
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  Speaker 3: We're just getting over that hill. Yeah, we've seeing the downhill.
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  Speaker 1: Now, that's all right. It's going to be at least
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  Speaker 1: seventy degrees today. Feeling a little better, right, Yeah, Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I'm standing out the beautiful morning.
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  Speaker 1: I'm excited for all of it. Speaking of which, we've
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  Speaker 1: we've got a lot of ground to cover today and
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  Speaker 1: we're gonna start with an update on the annexation of
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  Speaker 1: Whiteside County into the Reagan Mass Transit District.
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  Speaker 3: Specifically in not the entire county, but just the White
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  Speaker 3: County Public Transportation piece is moving forward, continuing to partner
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  Speaker 3: collaborate with white Say County government. At the most recent
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  Speaker 3: County Board meeting, they approved a memorandum of understanding, as
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  Speaker 3: did our Reage mess Transit District Board the same evening
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  Speaker 3: approve that MoU which effectively outlines some of those pieces
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  Speaker 3: that are going to be critical to a successful annexation,
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  Speaker 3: if you will, so identifying what elements we need to
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  Speaker 3: be concerned and focused on. And now that we've actually
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  Speaker 3: moved past that approval piece, now it's sort of not
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  Speaker 3: the downhill portion, but it's getting pretty close. We're still
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  Speaker 3: working through some of the critical pieces. The other night,
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  Speaker 3: this past Monday night, we had a chance to actually
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  Speaker 3: do some meet and greet with the dispatch as well
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  Speaker 3: as driver's staff of white Say County Public Transit. They
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  Speaker 3: came over to our facility. Steve can add more flavor
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  Speaker 3: to that, but that was a good time to answer
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  Speaker 3: some questions and get a little more detail to them
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  Speaker 3: in terms of what is it going to look like
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  Speaker 3: in terms of the operation, a lot of which won't
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  Speaker 3: be changing. And so in the coming months between now
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  Speaker 3: and the end of June, we'll be working on what
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  Speaker 3: will term the final agreement, definitive agreement that we'll be
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  Speaker 3: signed by both sides. It's very akin, I think, to
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  Speaker 3: a closing for our house, where we're identifying those elements
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  Speaker 3: already in the MoU and basically making sure that everything
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  Speaker 3: is kosher as we go forward with White sac Aunty
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  Speaker 3: Public Transit now part or will be part of Regae
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  Speaker 3: Mass Transit District. Effect of July first.
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  Speaker 1: July first July first, love hearing that date and knowing
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  Speaker 1: that it's coming in time for summer. How long has
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  Speaker 1: this been in the works.
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  Speaker 3: You know, somebody asked that question the other day, and
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  Speaker 3: I believe we started very informal discussions at the end
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  Speaker 3: of summer, probably folish of twenty twenty five, and from
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  Speaker 3: there it's sort of gains steam, if you will. And
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  Speaker 3: it was a process that I think has gone rather
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  Speaker 3: smoothly in terms of both sides with a common goal
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  Speaker 3: of making this annexation real by that deadline. And I
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  Speaker 3: DOT has also been involved in some of these discussions
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  Speaker 3: that we've been having as a group, just to make
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  Speaker 3: sure that you know, everything is going to be covered
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  Speaker 3: as much as possible. Steve, I don't know if you
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  Speaker 3: want to throw anything.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're just operationally.
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  Speaker 4: You know, everybody's talking now so that we can figure
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  Speaker 4: out you're not going to see much of a change
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  Speaker 4: if you're a Whiteside County Transit participant right.
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  Speaker 2: Now for one of their clients.
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  Speaker 4: Still it is a very similar room, but the sheer landscape. Now,
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  Speaker 4: if I want to go from Fulton to Byron's, that's
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  Speaker 4: our we can make that happen. So operationally, it's a
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  Speaker 4: lot of fun right now just trying to figure out
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  Speaker 4: what might our ridership look like, our routes look like,
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  Speaker 4: because we can cover a lot of space between Iowa
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  Speaker 4: all the way up to Wisconsin and most of our
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  Speaker 4: Sex and Illinois.
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  Speaker 2: So that's the real fun part right now for us,
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  Speaker 2: I'll bet.
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  Speaker 1: But I mean that's exciting news for anybody living in
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  Speaker 1: the Sauk Valley to know that there's going to be
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  Speaker 1: this kind of increased coverage as far as people who
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  Speaker 1: are going to be able to get rides, where you're
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  Speaker 1: going to be able to go, and how efficiently that's
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  Speaker 1: still going to be able to play out in the
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  Speaker 1: way that Reagan Mass Transit District has already been handling this.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think the real picture, and again Steve,
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  Speaker 3: because he's with operations every single day, can throw more
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  Speaker 3: color at this, but we're already going into Whiteside County,
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  Speaker 3: and quite honestly, Whiteside County is already coming into Lee
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  Speaker 3: County and Ogle County. So it's not as though it's unfamiliar, Tor,
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  Speaker 3: it's just what can we now do as now having
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  Speaker 3: that geographical piece as part of Reagane Mass Transit District.
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  Speaker 3: How does that actually change or enhance is what I
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  Speaker 3: would probably look at, since, like Steve said, it's very realistic.
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  Speaker 3: You could if you want to ride from Fulton and
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  Speaker 3: make a trip probably with some type of transfer to
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  Speaker 3: Byrant within the same district area. So it does open
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  Speaker 3: up more potential options than what we might currently have
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  Speaker 3: as an option within our current geographical area.
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  Speaker 2: It's just easier on your clientile. They have one place
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  Speaker 2: to call. Yeah, if I lived.
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  Speaker 4: At Sterling and wanted to go to Dixon, who do
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  Speaker 4: I call Whiteside or do I call Reagan Mass Transit.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely now, it's just it's easier for the clientele and
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  Speaker 4: we'll be able to take care of everybody a little
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  Speaker 4: bit easier.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean we've discussed this before. Public transportation,
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  Speaker 1: especially in a community our size, is really important with
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  Speaker 1: these gas prices anymore now more than ever. But but really,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I know we've said this before, but if
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  Speaker 1: you're you know, you're not familiar, you're somebody maybe first
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  Speaker 1: time this is you know, listening to this. I know
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people can tend to think public transportation
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  Speaker 1: isn't that something bigger, you know, Rockford, Chicago. But but
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  Speaker 1: we've talked about this before. You know, you might be
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  Speaker 1: somebody who who has a vehicle and you know you're
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  Speaker 1: you're in a situation where you know, one repair puts
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  Speaker 1: you down for several weeks and you don't always have
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  Speaker 1: that friend who's going to carpol ya, you know over
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  Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks, month, whatever it takes you
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  Speaker 1: to get that fixed. Maybe you're somebody who can't afford
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  Speaker 1: a vehicle, but you've still got places to grow, you know,
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  Speaker 1: your kids need to go places. You've got grocery shopping,
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  Speaker 1: doctor's appointments, and it's still needed. I think even more
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  Speaker 1: so in areas of our population.
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  Speaker 3: Size, without a doubt. And I think that that when
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  Speaker 3: obviously people think of that model public trends, that they
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  Speaker 3: oftentimes will default to that well where do I walk
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  Speaker 3: to to get on the.
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  Speaker 1: Bus right, Yeah, I don't see a bus stop.
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  Speaker 3: The rural model, I think is gaining more hold more
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  Speaker 3: of an appreciation these days. If you look at the
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  Speaker 3: two different models, urban versus rural. Urban's not going the
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  Speaker 3: amount of miles that rural is going. I mean, as
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  Speaker 3: we've mentioned previously, Steve can expound upon three quarters of
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  Speaker 3: a million miles is what we're putting on our buses
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  Speaker 3: on an annual basis and getting people to those you know,
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  Speaker 3: necessary resources for their community or a nearby community. So
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  Speaker 3: on average, that means it's roughly eight miles for every
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  Speaker 3: ride that we're providing. So that is a pretty substantial
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  Speaker 3: footprint in this area. And obviously we still have a
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  Speaker 3: ways to go and meeting even more of those needs because,
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  Speaker 3: like we've emphasized in the past, there are transit deserts
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  Speaker 3: out there that we know that there's some limitations as
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  Speaker 3: to what people can currently do.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, thankfully that's not ours. You guys are taking care
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  Speaker 1: of making sure that doesn't happen around here, and I
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  Speaker 1: appreciate that. So, and you know, you made up a
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  Speaker 1: good point about people you know, thinking of, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the kind of urban model and wondering how that works.
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  Speaker 1: And what's really cool is that you guys have taken
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  Speaker 1: an interesting approach at letting people know just how your
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  Speaker 1: model works. And that's fair free for Friday.
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  Speaker 2: But every third Friday we run.
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  Speaker 4: It's truly we're calling every third but we figured out
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  Speaker 4: a smith's post it for you. But on that Friday,
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  Speaker 4: we'd love for you just to try us out. We
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  Speaker 4: were just like we were talking earlier. Maybe you don't
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  Speaker 4: know what we do where, or the service we provide,
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  Speaker 4: or you know, and the time where you might need
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  Speaker 4: to going at the car breaks down, come try our service.
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  Speaker 4: It's free for the day, talking about better quality of life,
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  Speaker 4: get yourself out of the house, or or you know,
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  Speaker 4: sixty two percent of our rides are for employment. So yeah,
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  Speaker 4: you're saying that car breaks down, you still got to
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  Speaker 4: get work. Yeah, so we we sixty two percent of
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  Speaker 4: our rides right now are for employment. So come out
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  Speaker 4: try us out on Fridays, we're running all over the
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  Speaker 4: two counties currently and we'd love just to show you
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  Speaker 4: what our service is all about. And obviously for our
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  Speaker 4: regular clientele they love it. That's a free ride a
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  Speaker 4: month there every time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean there's not really a better weekend
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  Speaker 1: to do it. It's going to be beautiful whether we've
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  Speaker 1: got free Easter events happening all across the Sauk Valley
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  Speaker 1: in addition to a bunch of others now that things
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  Speaker 1: are warming up. So if you've ever had questions or
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  Speaker 1: maybe you find yourself in the actual need for public transportation,
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  Speaker 1: doesn't matter either way, get out there and check it
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  Speaker 1: out for free and see why so many people are
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  Speaker 1: are taking advance image of this resource.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think it is an experience in not
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  Speaker 3: to be too I guess fluffy about this, but in
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  Speaker 3: terms of it could be a life changing experience for
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  Speaker 3: you if you try it. I know, looking at some
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  Speaker 3: of the data in the past in a given twelve
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  Speaker 3: month period, as just as part of fair Free Fourth Friday,
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  Speaker 3: we're doing four thousand rides as part of that series
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  Speaker 3: once a month for that twelve month period, four thousand
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  Speaker 3: rides that are at no cost that we're giving people
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  Speaker 3: that flavor. I'm trying to put as many f words
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  Speaker 3: in there that I can, but it could be a
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  Speaker 3: life changing piece. I mean some people these days. I
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  Speaker 3: just drove down the highway this morning and saw four
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  Speaker 3: dollars a gallon four nineteen and it's like, whoa, Well,
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  Speaker 3: it's getting real. And if people do want to no
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  Speaker 3: longer you know, support that vehicle that they're currently driving,
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  Speaker 3: or you know, just not buy the next one, but instead,
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  Speaker 3: you know, push it to public transit as their option,
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  Speaker 3: their source for actually getting to work, or whatever community
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  Speaker 3: resource they need to get to, that is something that
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  Speaker 3: they should give a try. And if we can do
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  Speaker 3: do an offering every month that's free, you know, take
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  Speaker 3: advantage of it and see what it's like. Just get
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  Speaker 3: that flavor.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know people who you know, may have grown
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  Speaker 1: up in this area, you've always thought about having a vehicle.
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  Speaker 1: It might be a little hard to you know, maybe
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  Speaker 1: fathom that at first. But if I've got several friends
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  Speaker 1: who moved here from the city and when they came
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  Speaker 1: in here, they're like, you know, like I got to
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  Speaker 1: have a car, And it's like, no, we've got that covered.
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  Speaker 1: But they've already got the mindset. They're like, I don't
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  Speaker 1: want a vehicle. I don't want to pay for gas,
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to pay for insurance, I don't want
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  Speaker 1: to pay for parking. And well, parking may not be
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  Speaker 1: the biggest deal around here. Insurance and gas are already
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  Speaker 1: enough repairs you know, breaks down, you got to get
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  Speaker 1: a new vehicle. If you already know how this can
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  Speaker 1: just a regular way of life planning your trips. It
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  Speaker 1: is like you said, it can be life changing.
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  Speaker 3: Without a doubt. So yeah, give Steve a call, he'll
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  Speaker 3: get you hooked up, or one of our great staff will.
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  Speaker 2: We'll get you all the set up to go where
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  Speaker 2: we need to go.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of more exciting news, I love anything to do
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  Speaker 1: with this. So you guys got a golf outing coming
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  Speaker 1: up this summer exactly.
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  Speaker 3: This is our second annual four Wheels Golf Outing. We
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  Speaker 3: just had some fun with the title, but you know,
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  Speaker 3: if you open up our brochure you're going to find
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  Speaker 3: more fun with the sponsorship levels. And obviously I think
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  Speaker 3: we had a for a first year event and raising
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  Speaker 3: a net total of just over twelve thousand dollars. That's
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  Speaker 3: going right back into providing, you know, services to those
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  Speaker 3: who have a need financially for some assistance. I think
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  Speaker 3: our event is you know, going to grow and hopefully
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  Speaker 3: expand and make them a greater footprint in terms of
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  Speaker 3: helping others. But ours this year is June nineteenth. It's
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  Speaker 3: a Friday, it's a holiday, so somebody wants to get
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  Speaker 3: off for a long holiday weekend. Start with our four
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  Speaker 3: Wheels golf outing. This year. We are will be at
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  Speaker 3: Timber Creek Golf Course here in Dixon. Eleven thirty registration,
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  Speaker 3: tee off at one o'clock, eighteen holes after which will
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  Speaker 3: do a ceremony, just a quick one, but we will
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  Speaker 3: provide lunch before you actually tee off at one o'clock.
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  Speaker 3: And we think we're going to have a nice, obviously
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  Speaker 3: beautiful day is what we've put in for, no rain
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  Speaker 3: in the forecast and just a fun afternoon of raising
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  Speaker 3: funds that will support public transportation. So if you want
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  Speaker 3: a golf or be a sponsor, give Steve or I
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  Speaker 3: a call at eight one five two eight eight two
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  Speaker 3: one one seven and come be involved if you haven't already,
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  Speaker 3: either golfing or as a sponsor.
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  Speaker 1: And this is it's not like a pro am tournament, right.
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  Speaker 1: I can get out there like Happy Gilmore and just
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  Speaker 1: just go at it. I just love them big hits.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 4: I'm not going anybody on this bus, but there was
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  Speaker 4: a team for me here who had a lot.
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  Speaker 2: Of fun last year.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that came right out of these offices. So please
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  Speaker 4: feel free come out enjoy yourselves. You do not have
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: to be a scratch golfer by any means, obviously if
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: you've ever seen me play, so coming out, we.
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  Speaker 2: Have a lot of fun. I've got a couple of
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: games out.
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  Speaker 4: There that just make the thing even more enjoyable. So
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  Speaker 4: we had a really good time last year. It's for
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: obviously a great cause to get some people to and
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: from that maybe need a little help, So if you'd
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: like to sponsor, please feel free give us a call.
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: But obviously you'd like to play. It's a good day.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: We have a lot of fun that day.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, you don't need any more excuse for me to
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: get out and hit golf, but supporting public transportation in
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: your community is just one more reason to get out
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: there and do it. Guys, were out of time. I'm
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: so thankful for everything you're coming and shared. If anyone
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: has any questions about anything we've talked about, or just
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: about what Reagan Mass Transit District provides, what's the best
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: way for them to.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Do that eight one five two eight eight two one
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  Speaker 3: one seven or check out our website Reaganmass Transit dot org.
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  Speaker 1: There you go go online. Give them a call. Greg Steve,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining me today. I look
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: forward to future updates.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Nice Thank you,