Dr. Brian Nall pastor of Ferris Hill Baptist Church in Milton Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015.(Michael Spooneybarger/ Studer Community Institute)

A group of Santa Rosa County churches is pitching an idea to help address a small part of a larger problem: the need for public transportation.

Brian Nall, pastor at Ferris Hill Baptist Church in Milton and a member of Santa Rosa Bridges Out of Poverty, is leading an effort for local churches to use their existing vehicles — buses, vans and passenger cars — to help get people to and from medical appointments. Earlier this month, the Santa Rosa County Commission endorsed the general idea, agreeing to investigate how it might work.

"I came up with the idea from many years of ministry work and church strategy development. I felt churches could use their resources to serve the community," Nall said. "Currently about two dozen churches and faith-based organizations have expressed an interest (in participating)."

Access to health care is an important measure of a community’s quality of life; access to public transportation can in general, help lift people out of poverty and give them access to employment, education and health care.

Shawn Ward, the transportation planner for the Santa Rosa County, praised the proposal for potentially meeting part of a greater need. Ward said Santa Rosa Bridges Out of Poverty has identified the lack of transportation as their No. 1 limiting factor to get people out of poverty.

"You cannot get to work, post education, shopping or medical services without transportation,” Ward said. “I receive calls daily from citizens requesting public transit."

Santa Rosa public transit limited

Public transit in Santa Rosa County is very limited, but there is a need.

Last year, the Florida Commission for Transportation Disadvantaged, provided more than 39,000 one-person, one-way trips in Santa Rosa County, Ward said. The commission is an independent agency that coordinates transportation for older adults, persons with disabilities, persons of low-income and children at-risk. It offers rides to medical appointments, jobs, school and other locations for about 600,000 Floridians statewide.

Transportation for veterans going to medical appointments is available from the Santa Rosa County Veterans' Memorial Foundation.

From December 2010 to December 2012, there was a weekday mini-bus route from East Milton to Nine Mile Road in Pensacola that basically ran along U.S. 90, but the Santa Rosa County Commission discontinued that program because it was not self-sufficient.

Ward is working on Nall's proposal from the county's perspective.

"I believe the faith-based organizations coming together to provide public transit to the community is a great idea if we can work out the logistics such as fuel cost, liability and dispatching," he said. "The faith-based community may be able to start and implement a service faster to address an immediate need than the local governments working together."

Looking for links

Dr. Brian Nall pastor of Ferris Hill Baptist Church in Milton Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015.(Michael Spooneybarger/ Studer Community Institute)

The proposed program would seek to connect to public transit in Escambia and Okaloosa counties. Ward also thinks federal and state grants may be available to help cover some costs of the program.

Many details of the proposal are still being worked out, including costs to operate and maintain the program. Nall said the exact geographic area is yet to be determined. Much of it will depend on partner churches and their locations.

"Some churches are seeking to simply absorb this as part of their outreach ministry,” Nall said. “However, a small fare is possible."

Nall is working with churches to get ready for the program.

"We are formalizing the partnership guidelines between churches now, encouraging churches to have their insurance policies reviewed and recruit participants in churches," Nall said. "We will also be making some small promotion videos to share in faith-based organizations to answer questions."

The program could be operational by sometime in 2016.