Jaunt is Carmen Bonano’s connection to her world. The longtime rider, who lives in Mineral, Virginia uses the service multiple times a week to do all the things she needs to do.
Bonano rides Jaunt to go to doctor’s appointments, pick up medications and go grocery shopping. More importantly, she regularly visits her daughter, who is disabled and in a wheelchair. “I take her groceries and help her out,” Bonano says. Her daughter only lives a few miles away, but Bonano doesn’t drive and can’t walk that distance.
The friendly and caring drivers make Jaunt special, she says. “They’re very nice, all of them. They are really fantastic and they look after you. They’ve helped me so much.” Joyce Morris is Bonano’s favorite driver. When one older rider was sick and couldn’t get her medication, Joyce got it for her. “She got her medicine and everything on her own time. That’s how she is. She’s good to everybody, especially the elderly.” All the drivers go out of their way to help the riders, Bonano says, and many will help her carry packages all the way to her door. “They go out of their way to do something that is not within the job description.”
Bonano has used Jaunt for 10 years and doesn’t know what she would do without it. “They’ve been my lifeline,” she says. “Jaunt is so important to all of the seniors and other people that have to take public transportation. It is essential to everybody here in Louisa County.”
