Seldom has the old and the new come together in such start contrast. Taxis are the old. Ubers are the new. However, if you are legally blind and live in Jackson Mississippi, you can use a single method to get both at half price, mostly. 

The juxtaposition of old and new does not end there. Writing checks is old and hailing an Uber on an iPhone is new. Yet you will have to do both to take advantage of the program. This blend of old and new is an odd mix. But it works. Here’s how to make it work for you:

Don’t bother looking for a website. If there is one, no one seems to know where it is or how to find it. Treat it more like a word of mouth kind of thing that is more about who you know than what you know. Here is the contact person and mailing address:

Rene Virden: Checks are mailed to: MCB-Trans P.O. Box 134, Clinton, MS. 39060.

But wait, there’s more! If you prefer taxis to Ubers, you can do that as well. The contact information and procedures are the same. Sorry, there is no program for Lyft. Here’s how the program works:

Send a check for up to $300 in $100 increments to the above address by the 15th of the month. You can only do this once a month. So be sure to get the correct amount the first time. You will get double the amount back in vouchers to spend on the service you requested. You redeem the vouchers as a gift card in Uber Wallet. You enter it like any other gift card. From there, you simply pay with Wallet and enjoy the rides. 

Taxis work a bit differently. Instead of a gift card-like voucher, you get physical tickets that are worth $200 each. Again, you will get twice as much in tickets as what you paid for them. Just present the tickets to the driver as cash. You might want to keep a pocket full of loose bills and change so that you don’t have to end up paying $10 in tickets for an $8.05 ride. 

If you know of a legally blind person who can benefit from this program, please share the link to this story.

David Johnson