Carol Wegher to retire from GLTA at end of May; new director steps in
For 11 years, Greater Lapeer Transportation Authority (GLTA) executive director Carol Wegher has conveyed their mission to provide safe, affordable and reliable transportation service to all residents in the service area. Friday, May 29 will be her last day with GLTA, as she is retiring.
“I’ve been here 11 years,” Wegher said.
Wegher began her public transit career in Livingston County where she worked for 27 years. After that she came to the GLTA, where she first started out as the director of operations.
“Around the state every single county has some form of public transit, be it a specialized service or a regular demand-response service, which is what we are. We are not a fixed route,” Wegher said. “The GLTA has been here for around 27 years. There were a couple systems before the current GLTA that went under due to lack of funding, but this one has been around for a long time.”
The GLTA services the city of Lapeer, and Elba, Oregon, Mayfield, Deerfield and Lapeer townships. It has the authority to travel throughout the county as well.
All an interested person has to do to set up a ride is call them at 810- 664-4566. Their hours of operation are from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday.
Cost to ride with the GLTA is per ride. If a rider wants to be dropped off somewhere outside of the service area, the cost is increased.
“We sell tokens, and if you buy a pack of them you get one free,” Wegher said. “It reduces that overall cost a little bit. Typically the people that live outside the service area don’t purchase tokens. They can buy tokens here, they can get them from the drivers, and we have agencies that purchase tokens.”
Having worked in the public transit business for 38 years, Wegher knows how much the GLTA makes a difference in the lives of its riders.
“Without public transportation a lot of people would be homebound,” she said. “Maybe they don’t have family, or they don’t have family members that are able to take them where they need to go because people work or don’t have cars. As much as we’d like to think that public transportation is a choice, we are a lot of people’s only means of getting around. So it’s the benefit to the community. It’s knowing that you make a difference in people’s lives.”
With her newly found free time, Wegher is looking forward to remodeling her home in Fenton and spending time with family.
“My husband and I have some projects that we want to do to our house,” she said. “We remodeled our kitchen last summer, so this summer it’s going to be the living room and the dining room. I’m also looking forward to spending time with grandkids and going to see family — my son lives in Alaska and we were hoping he would be here this summer, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen, so I might be going to Alaska for awhile.”
While her last day is on May 29, Wegher plans to stay around for a while in support of the incoming executive director, Kelly Bales.
Bales has been with the GLTA since March 23. Prior to that she was self-employed, working for about 15 different title companies for 17 years. She heard about the job opening at the GLTA through word of mouth.
“I was born and raised in Lapeer, so it’s a really great thing for it to kind of come full-circle. To be able to work in the community and, until my son rode GLTA, I didn’t know it was here. But as far as all the benefits the GLTA gives to the residents of Lapeer County… I predominantly did my work out of the county at that point, so when I was not here, GLTA was there to be my transportation resource for my son,” Bales said.
Bales is most looking forward to making the public aware of the GLTA because, “a lot of people in Lapeer probably don’t see what the GLTA could do for them and their families.”
“That’s something we all struggle with, because you can’t get any bigger than we are when you’ve got 27 rolling billboards out there on the road,” Wegher said. “Until you really need it, you might see it 100 times, but you don’t realize that it’s available for everybody.”
Beverly Dupuis, the GLTA financial director, is also retiring on May 29 along with Wegher. She has been with the company for 23 years.
“I like doing some good for the community. It makes me feel good,” she said.
Traci Pewinski, the former Imlay City deputy clerk and utility biller, will replace Dupuis.
“Between (Dupuis and I), we have over 60 years in this business,” Wegher said.
To find out more about what the GLTA can do for you, visit them online at www.go-glta.org or call them at 810-664- 4566.