Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 4, 1994 TAG: 9404050137
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``My dad wanted us to run a bus [to New Castle] before he died, so we run it,'' Fred Abbott tells us. He is president of Abbott Bus Lines, a charter bus company in Roanoke. His father, Taft, was its founder.
Taft Abbott died in 1978, but 16 years later, an Abbott bus - actually, it's a van, these days - makes a regular run on Tuesdays between New Castle and Roanoke. In Western Virginia, where so many counties are largely rural, it is a rare convenience for elderly residents who need transportation to Roanoke's doctors and medical facilities, but either no longer drive or are unwilling to drive so far.
It's also an example of good corporate citizenship, a business that sees its community obligations as extending beyond its principal mission - remaining a profitable concern and stable source of employment - and that feels community concerns beyond traffic patterns and customer parking.
With all of today's social needs that obviously cannot be met solely by government programs and tax dollars, some businesses look for opportunities to make quality of life better in ways that might not directly benefit the bottom line, but that will keep it healthy in the long run as communities stay healthy.
Despite such good will, though, Abbott was finding the arrangement becoming less and less workable. As Fred Abbott explains: ``Our passengers are dying.'' That has nothing to do with the bus ride, you understand; it's just that as the years have passed, so have some of the passengers, and there have been Tuesdays when the driver was about the only person who made the trip to Roanoke from New Castle.
A company with a less personal tie to Craig County probably would have dropped the service at this point, making a legitimate business decision that the demand didn't justify the expense.
But that is what is nice about a business with a sense of service and roots in the community. Just because ridership has fallen off doesn't mean there is no longer a need. Abbott Lines has been talking to community activists and the League of Older Americans, and together they are working out ways to promote the service more and to make it more convenient for elderly residents to take the bus. Ridership isn't restricted to this group, but they have the greatest need.
So, rather than making just one stop, plans call for the van to start making a stop at a new apartment building for the elderly that is to open sometime around May. And it will add a stop at another, smaller complex for elderly residents, too.
If people make their medical appointments on Tuesdays, they can call ahead and let the bus company know they'll be needing a ride. The driver will know to stop for them, and they can wait inside where they'll be comfortable till the van arrives. It won't answer the transportation needs of people who aren't mobile enough to get out to the bus, or to get on the bus unassisted. But it will help some elderly residents maintain their independence.
Too nice to make business sense? Well, the company does regard the run as a service - but one that is good business, too. ``The van doesn't cost much,'' Abbott says. ``And we got a retired guy to drive it and he doesn't cost much.'' The company expects the new stops to yield enough riders to make the route break even, as it used to.
Plus, says Abbott, ``It gives us something to brag about.''
Bragging rights to be proud of.
by CNB