John Cloutier pulls the Dial-A-Ride bus into a Geneva parking lot where an elderly woman in a wheelchair and her companion are waiting.
He greets them merrily before he lowers the hydraulic lift. Then he wheels the elderly woman onto it, raises the lift, wheels her onto the bus and secures her chair for the ride.
A few minutes later, he arrives at her home and reverses the process. After he’s sure she is safely on smooth sidewalk, he offers a hearty goodbye and drives off to meet his next passenger.
“These people are like family to me,” he says. “I try to do as much as I can for them.”
For almost two decades, Cloutier, 52, has driven area residents who are elderly or have disabilities. He helps them on and off the bus, carries their groceries and parcels, and chats with them about their lives.
Most riders ask to be taken to grocery stores, shopping centers, banks and doctor offices. A few of the younger ones go to and from their jobs or schools.
“The bus gives them independence,” he says. “Many of these people don’t drive. Sometimes they move out here to be with their kids, but their kids are working. We can give them as much time as they need.”
Cloutier is sometimes amused by how independent his riders can be, he says. Small groups who go shopping or lunching together aren’t always eager to return home.
“They’ll say, `Don’t pick us up before 3 p.m. The later the better,’ ” he says with a smile. “They’ll stay out as long as we let them, but we have to put the bus in the garage for the night.”
The bus service is a joint project of the cities and townships of St. Charles and Geneva. Qualified residents may make reservations 24 hours in advance for door-to-door transportation within that geographic area. The service operates from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. The cost is $1 each way.
Cloutier is the only full-time driver. He is assisted by two part-time drivers, Frank Wilderspin and Richard Montgomery. Reservations are taken by two dispatchers, Bev Cassens, who works mornings, and Diana Turek, who works afternoons.
The service owns two buses. One is on the road and the other is in reserve. In 1996, the service provided about 11,000 rides.
“I try to give prompt service and to more or less be a friend,” Cloutier says. “I want to help when I can.”
On a recent afternoon, he took one woman to a grocery. He then delivered another to a bank. The latter told him she would walk across the street to the grocery and he could meet her there. He agreed and told her to call the dispatcher whenever she was ready. He took care of a few more riders and then picked up Beth Finke at the recreational center, where she swims. She is blind, and her guide dog, Dora, rode too.
Finke swims almost every day. When she is finished, she and Dora wait for Cloutier near a curb. Many buses drive past about that time and they sound alike, she says. Finke appreciates the fact that Cloutier stops, opens the door and shouts “hello” so she can follow his voice to the correct bus.
Finke, who moved to Geneva two years ago from Champaign, also uses the bus to get to and from work. She works in the ticket office of the Kane County Cougars during baseball season. Before she learned about the bus service, she took a taxi one way and asked co-workers to drive her the other.
“With the bus, I have much more control,” she says. “And it’s cheaper. The cab would cost me my first hour of work.”
After taking Finke and Dora home, it was time for Cloutier to go back to the grocery. One woman wasn’t ready yet, but the other was. He parked the bus near the door and went inside to find her. When they came out, he was carrying her grocery bags.
“He’s a very nice man and a very kind man,” the woman said of Cloutier.
On rare occasions, Cloutier receives a request he can’t fill. A few years ago, he drove a woman to a nearby Montgomery Wards. When he returned for her a couple hours later, a store employee directed him to the loading dock. Cloutier discovered the woman had bought a refrigerator and expected him to deliver it to her home on the bus. Cloutier explained that he couldn’t haul appliances. Family members did it for her later.
“There’s no way we can do things like that,” he says. “Groceries–no problem.”
Despite the thousands of miles Cloutier has driven, he has been stranded only once, and that was several weeks ago. On a very cold day, the vehicle stopped. Fortunately, Cloutier had no passengers. He called for help, and a mechanic from the St. Charles Public Works Department met him at the disabled bus. The problem was a snapped alternator belt. The bus was towed, and another driver finished the day with the second bus.
“As a rule, people understand if we’re late sometimes,” he says. “Everybody has a turn being a little early or a little late.”
Greg Rejnert, St. Charles’ public services superintendent, praises Cloutier’s work.
“John gets a lot of pats on the back from all his riders,” he says. “They trust him. They confide in him. It’s a nice relationship he has with these people. And he’s unbelievably reliable. I count on John every day to get the job done.”
Cloutier and his wife, Linda, have lived in St. Charles about 25 years. They have two children, Jeff, 19, and Jamie, 16.
Cloutier was born and grew up on the South Side of Chicago and graduated in 1962 from Thornton High School in Harvey. He worked as an order filler for a meatpacking house for a couple years until he was drafted into the Army, where he served two years as a military police officer.
After he was discharged, he returned to the Chicago area and his former job.
Cloutier moved to St. Charles when he took a job as a cottage supervisor for an area correctional facility for teens and young adults. A few years later, the facility closed. Cloutier then formed a cab company, which grew to five cabs.
In the late 1970s, city and township officials enlisted his help in starting the Dial-A-Ride program.
They used his cabs until 1981, when the buses were purchased. At the same time, they offered him a full-time position as a driver. He accepted and closed his company.
“This is probably the best job I’ve ever had,” he says. “These are all real good people. I want to do my best for them.”
For more information on Dial-A-Ride, call 630-584-5353.
