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

Woofter, 76, of Butler uses Butler Transit Authority buses three times per 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 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.

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