Public transportation is essential to Mary Ann Woofter's life.

Woofter, 76, of Butler uses Butler Transit Authority buses three times a week to go grocery shopping, get her nails done and see her husband, who is living at VA Butler Healthcare.

“It's important,” she said. “I don't have a car and I like to walk.”

Woofter is glad she doesn't have to buy gas or make car repairs, and as a senior citizen she rides the bus for free. She appreciates and is satisfied with the service.

“It's a good way to talk to people, too, because they all talk to you,” she said.

For many senior citizens, the bus is a social outlet as well as a way to get around.

“A lot of them have nobody to talk to but us,” said Susan Pint, a BTA bus driver. “I try to learn their names and make them feel special, because they are.”

Pint drives the bus while riders chat happily about their grandchildren, the previous night's Penguins game or restaurants they frequent.

Sally Cousins, 65, of Butler Township takes the bus into the city almost every day to run errands and purchase medication.

“I like the drivers,” she said. “They're nice.”

Lee Miller, 70, of Butler Township also rides buses to get into town, and wouldn't change anything about the service.

“Everything's OK,” he said.

Pint finds it easy to get attached to the riders, and said it's hard when they die. She loves their stories, including one from a 90-year-old man who rode the bus on Mother's Day and had a bouquet of flowers with them.

She jokingly thanked him for the flowers, and he told her that they were for his late wife, whose remains he kept in a box in his home.

The BTA is one of several transportation services available to seniors in Butler. There also is Butler Area Rural Transit, which has 4,500 registered riders across the county and is active in the city.

Anyone who has a disability or is at least 65 is eligible for BART. People can schedule an appointment and one of BART'S 17 vans or buses will be sent to pick them up at their homes.

“They go anywhere from nutrition centers to day programs, to lunch, shopping or getting their hair done,” said Amber Davis, director of operations for Alliance for Nonprofit Resources.

Davis said that cost depends on where or how far the rider is going. A doctor's appointment is free, while a hair appointment would be a 15 percent co-payment.

Jean Updegraff, 70, of Butler finds BART to be enormously helpful.

Updegraff is taken to and from the Tanglewood Center each day by BART, where she works on puzzles and keeps the place clean on a volunteer basis. She used to walk from the Lafayette Apartments on Main Street to the center, which would be a multi-mile walk. Now, she can travel in a more efficient manner.

“That helps me out a lot,” she said.

For those who can drive, Tanglewood Center offers a safe driving class.

Scherri Grazier, 67, of Clay Township frequents the center to play card games with her friends, and has taken the class to get her insurance fees dropped by 5 percent.

LIFE Butler County, an organization aimed at providing health care for independent senior citizens, also has its own transportation system. Not only are buses used to bring people to and from its West Diamond Street location, but when a patient can't travel, LIFE comes to them.

Help with in-home bathing, dressing and grooming is standard. LIFE also has employees who help with light housekeeping and shopping.

For those who can make it out of the house but need transportation, LIFE buses them to and from the facility. There, meals, activities, showers and health care are readily available.

Carol Noel, 67, of Butler has used LIFE Butler County for physical therapy upon being released from Sugar Creek Rest.

The transportation allowed her to improve her health and socialize.

“It's just the camaraderie around here,” she said. “People are very nice.”

Noel also runs errands using the transit authority's bus service, which has a lift for her walker.

“It's very important because without that I wouldn't be able to get anywhere,” she said. “I don't have a car and I don't have anyone to take me.”

Despite the many options senior citizens have for transportation, there are still obstacles in their way. Beth Friedman, of Center for Community Resources, said bus stop locations are an issue.

“Some of the challenges that people have are not all services are door-to-door,” she said. “They might be curb-to-curb.”

Laws and regulations dictate where and what kind of services can be rendered, and funding for such services can be cost prohibitive.

Many senior citizens, however, are still able to adequately use transportation services to get around.

Take Melba Engel, for instance. Engel, 67, of Butler uses the BTA bus to go to work.

She said that the hours of bus operations limit her to shifts between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., as she cannot take the bus earlier than 9:15 a.m. and the last bus route runs at 8 p.m.

Engel wants to see the bus operate on Sundays, but is still satisfied with the service.

“The bus drivers are fantastic,” she said. “They're great. They're very accommodating (and) they do the best they can.”