About 40 people turned out for the first of two public comment sessions on Thursday night for proposed new city bus routes.
Several residents who viewed maps of proposed city bus routes on Thursday night said they liked what they saw.
"I think it looks pretty good," said Emily Hadley, a Kansas University junior from Tonganoxie. "It has a good coverage of Lawrence, as it looks now."
Hadley and about 40 other residents stopped by the East Lawrence Recreation Center, 1245 E. 15th, to view large maps of several bus routes that the city is considering.
The proposed routes include buses that would travel along parts of Massachusetts, Louisiana, 15th, 23rd, Clinton Parkway, Harper and North Second streets.
"The whole point of this is to make sure we're not missing something," said Aaron Bartlett, the city's transportation planner.
Bartlett, along with Hugh Kierig, senior partner with KA Associates of Wichita, the consulting firm that drafted the routes, were on hand to answer questions about them.
"There was some concern about accessing industrial areas in the southern part of town along Haskell," Kierig said.
Residents suggested that buses should stop at the new Douglas County Jail, east of town, and at Edgewood Homes, a public housing area at 1600 Haskell.
"Overall the comments have been, 'Oh, I really like this, but I think they just need to be revised a bit,'" Bartlett said.
"Someone is going to notice the routes that don't go through their favorite place," said Walter Long III, a home-caregiver.
"Some of their (proposed) routes seem pretty good," he said.
"They seem really well-designed," said Dietrich Earnhart, assistant professor of economics and environmental studies at KU.
City officials are hopeful for a larger turnout for the second public comment session on the proposed routes, which will be from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at the Union Pacific Depot, 402 N. Second.
"I hope a lot more people give a lot more input," Long said.
Several residents gave written comments and ideas.
KA Associates will compile the comments into a report that will be presented to the Public Transit Advisory Committee at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in the city commission room at city hall.
The committee is expected to adopt recommendations on routes and operation times at that meeting. The recommendations will then be forwarded to the city commission.
City Manager Mike Wildgen has said that 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 for the system have not yet been determined.
-- Michael Dekker's phone message number is 832-7187. His e-mail address is mdekker@ljworld.com.
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