WAUPACA (NBC 26) — After more than three decades of service, Waupaca Taxis drive the city streets for the last time. Customers say it's heartbreaking, but the City says it's for the good of the community.
- The City of Waupaca Mayor Brian Smith says they cut Waupaca Taxi Service to save money.
- The City will now use the County's public transportation system.
- Waupaca Taxi customers say they'll miss the personal relationships they've developed with the drivers.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, with additional details for web)
Sandy Erickson uses Waupaca Taxi multiple times a week to get her husband to and from his medical appointments.
“My husband had a stroke in 2004, he can’t walk so he’s confined to a wheel chair,” she says. “We have no other way to get him around.”
But the last day of 2025, is the last day of Waupaca Taxi.
“That’s hard to lose a service like that,” Erickson says.
City of Waupaca Mayor Brian Smith says the City cut Waupaca Taxi to save money.
“We were alarmed at what it was costing the city taxpayers to continue the taxi service,” he says. “It was costing us well over $100,000 to maintain it.”
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Instead, the City of Waupaca will use Waupaca County’s public transportation: Catch-a-Ride.
The new service, paid for by a federal ride share grant awarded to the County this fall, will begin on Jan. 5. There will be four days when residents will not have access to public transportation in Waupaca.
“In the end, once it gets up and running, and of course there are going to be some glitches, but once it’s up and running, it’s actually going to be a better program because it covers all of the county instead of just the City of Waupaca,” Smith says.
At least for now, customers using the new service will have to schedule rides 24 hours in advance.
“Is it going to be as convenient as the current service? Not when it comes to that- when they have to schedule appointments in advance,” Smith says. “I do know the vendor is going to be looking at emergency type situations.”
For Erickson, scheduling calls a day in advance won't always be possible. Plus, she worries about medical emergencies.
“Well, if I need to get him to the hospital, I don’t have 24 hours notice to give them, if he’s sick or whatever,” she says. “Sometimes I’m so busy throughout the day I forget that ‘hey I need to call early in the morning so he has a ride set up,’ so that’s not going to work with this new service, so that means he’s going to miss his physical therapy appointment.”
More than the service itself, Erickson says she’ll miss the drivers and staff at Waupaca Taxi, some of whom have worked there for decades.
“They treat us like human beings and not just like customers. and that just makes it feel like a family,” she says. “It’s going to be heartbreaking to lose those folks.”
