Two meetings will allow residents to comment on a proposed system of seven bus routes, each designed to serve a different transportation need in the city.
Before the city commission votes on a final plan later this month, the public will have at least two opportunities to air views about proposed routes and schedules for a new bus system.
The city's Public Transit Advisory Committee will hold public meetings on Thursday and Sept. 13 to receive public comment on the proposed routes.
The committee then will adopt its final recommendations at a meeting Sept. 16 and forward those to city commissioners, who are expected to adopt a system of routes and schedules at a Sept. 21 meeting.
PTAC members agreed to the timeline after being briefed Wednesday morning on a draft route map presented by the city's public transit consultant, KA Associates of Wichita.
The draft shows a system of seven routes traversing the city, with each route aimed at serving a different transportation need.
Those needs include:
- Access to major job sites.
- Access to hospital and medical facilities.
- Connections to commercial and entertainment centers.
- Linking the KU on Wheels campus bus system with city routes.
The draft plan also calls for buses to run from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. But committee members said they may want to consider having extended hours on certain days for certain routes, especially to accommodate shift changes at businesses in industrial parks.
Setting priorities
Hugh Kierig of KA Associates said the committee and the city need to focus on two sets of issues in making their decision. Besides looking at where the buses will run, and how often, Kierig said, the groups also need to decide which of the transportation needs are their highest priorities.
That's because when the final transportation budget is known, it may not be possible to fund all seven of the routes at full service levels.
Depending on the amount of money available and how much it will cost to operate the system, Kierig said, some routes may have to be scaled back, or some may have to be dropped altogether.
City Manager Mike Wildgen said 80 percent of the cost of acquiring and operating the bus system will be paid by Federal Transit Authority grants. The state of Kansas has approved a three-year, $270,000 grant to Lawrence to pick up additional costs, and most of the balance will come from the 2 mills of property tax (about $1 million a year in revenue) the city will start levying next year for the bus system.
Fares charged to riders and advertising revenues from the sale of sign space on the buses will provide a relatively small portion of the funding, Wildgen said.
Costs not clear
The biggest question mark remaining, Wildgen said, is how much it will cost to operate the system.
The city plans to contract with a private company to operate the bus system, Wildgen said. KA Associates is in the process of writing bid specifications to be used in seeking an operator, as well as in the purchase of 12 new buses.
Other unknown factors, Wildgen said, include whether the city will decide to build a number of shelters at bus stops, and how much it will cost to hire additional city staff to oversee the operation and administer all the paperwork that comes with the federal grants.
The first public meeting will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the East Lawrence Recreation Center, 1245 E. 15th. The second meeting will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sept. 13 at the Lawrence Visitor Center, 402 N. Second.
Large scale maps will be available for review at both meetings. The public is invited to come at any time during the three-hour meetings to review the maps and offer comments.
-- Peter Hancock's phone message number is 832-7144. His e-mail address is phancock@ljworld.com.
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