NEW MTA PROGRAMS BENEFIT HEALTH AND NUTRITION
MTA TAKES STRIDES BY GIVING RIDES
/// BY NICOLE WEDDINGTON
In an effort to benefit the health and wellness of the residents of the Flint community, the Mass Transportation Authority( MTA) recently introduced two new programs that offer transportation to medical facilities and grocery stores.
Both services are open to the public, though they offer a significant benefit to residents that are disabled or elderly.
The“ Rides to Wellness” service is now providing residents and their families with accessible transportation to medical facilities outside the normal fixed route bus service.
“ The Mass Transportation Authority recognizes the important role it plays in assisting families with young children that need access to medical facilities,” said Edgar Benning, general manager and CEO of MTA.
The route, which starts at the downtown Flint MTA Transportation Center located on the corner of Harrison and 2 nd streets, takes passengers to Hurley Medical Center’ s Eastside Campus, emergency entrance and main entrance. It then continues on to the Mott Children’ s Center, the Genesys Downtown Flint Health Center and Hurley Children’ s Center located at the Flint Farmer’ s Market, before returning to the Flint MTA Transportation Center. The 35-minute route runs Monday through Friday, from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m., at an affordable cost of $ 1.75 each way.
“ This service will make the experience much easier for those that need to travel to sites that are not presently covered by fixed-route service,” Benning said.“ This will be of real value to the community and the families in it.”
Having access that allows residents to tend to their physical health is a huge step in
the right direction on improving the overall wellness of the people in the community, but maintaining that health with good nutrition is just as important.
Many of Flint’ s poorest neighborhoods are challenged food deserts, areas where there are no convenient or accessible grocery stores. Last year, Flint’ s MTA created its“ Ride to Groceries” service to offset the closing of the grocery stores.
The service traveled to several East Side grocery stores including the Kroger Super Market at Richfield and Center roads, the Walmart Super Center at Court Street and Belsay Road, and the Fresh Choice Market Place at Franklin Avenue and Davison Road.
Recently, MTA expanded its“ Ride to Groceries” service to include the entirety of Genesee County. The service now will cover Clio, Davison, Fenton, Flint, Flushing, Grand Blanc, Mt. Morris, Otisville and Swartz Creek.
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Innovative Health- Winter 2017