Archive: Around Town

(Ithaca, NY) Bob Hoyte is used to braving the elements. Gadabout Transportation Service’s Volunteer Driver of the Year was, at one time, the driver of teams of sled dogs racing across the Alaskan tundra in the world-famous Iditarod.

Hoyte’s willingness to brave Central New York’s worst weather, (how bad can it be compared to winter in Alaska?) and his “unflappable dependability” are being cited as the reasons he was named Gadabout’s Volunteer Driver of the Year.


Hoyte received the recognition at Gadabout’s Annual Volunteer Driver Thank-You Picnic, held on Wednesday, June 11, 2009. Volunteer drivers are the critical link in Gadabout’s ability to provide low-cost door-to-door transportation for people age 60 and older and people with disabilities in Tompkins County… many of whom have low or fixed-incomes. .

Hoyte began volunteering as a Gadabout driver in January 2006. He’s consistently driven three mornings per week for three and a half years, which equals more than 2,100 hours of volunteer time helping people take care of life’s essentials, such as visiting the doctor or grocery shopping.

Gadabout Transportation Services is a not-for-profit organization governed by its own board of directors. It provides door-to-door transportation to people in Tompkins County age 60 and older, or people with disabilities. It also serves as the federally mandated Americans With Disabilities Act Para-transit service for Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit.

Gadabout provided 66,000 one-way rides in 2008, up 12% from 2007. That figure includes 13, 350 rides to persons in wheelchairs. In total, Gadabout buses logged 430,000 miles in 2008.

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