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Ernie Mavis, 97, has been counting on Women's Transit Authority to take him from his east side apartment to the supermarket every 10 days or so .
Mavis, a retired Oscar Mayer meat cutter who said he gave up driving less than a year ago, was riding with WTA driver Rebecca Strome to the store Friday when he was told that the free-ride agency would be closing in a week.
How will Mavis get to the store for groceries?
He shrugged. "Unless my kids help me ...," said Mavis, who uses a cane to help him get around.
An unpaid federal tax debt of more than $60,000 forced the WTA board of directors to vote Monday to shut down and dissolve the agency.
The move left users of the free ride service operated by the 33- year-old nonprofit agency scrambling for transportation and funding agencies floundering to come up with a replacement plan.
But signs of trouble in the agency have been mounting for the past few years, and the high public profile and phalanx of volunteers who once fueled popular fundraisers have long been a thing of the past.
Doua Vang, a program director for Kajsiab House, which serves elderly Hmong, said the demise of WTA will leave dozens of people without transportation to his north side center and another Mental Health Center of Dane County program conducted in Oregon.
"It will be very difficult for people to get there," he said.
Vang said that WTA had been reliable, and he was surprised it was closing. "It was very sudden and gave us little time to look for other transportation," he said.
WTA was formed to provide safe nighttime rides for women, but had since expanded its services to include everyone. Its nighttime rides were suspended this week,...