NORWICH – Citing a hole in services for transportation in the county, the Chenango County Planning Department is spearheading a survey that gauges drivers’ interest in a volunteer driver program.

The department began peddling the survey in July with local nonprofit organizations helping with distribution. Digital copies have also gone out on social media websites to reach a broader audience.

The survey’s purpose, explained County Planning Department Director Shane Butler, is to develop a list of reliable volunteers for a potential volunteer driver program.

“We want to find how many people in the county would be willing to do transportation so that we could move ahead with a grant proposal,” said Butler. “We want as many as we can find.”

The idea’s similar to Uber and Lyft ride sharing which charge riders and are seldom quickly available in rural areas. Butler’s idea is to give free rides while drivers get a federal reimbursement for mileage made possible by grant funding.