Jared Fire uses the T every weekday, riding the city bus between Haskell Indian Nations University, where he is a student, and Kansas University, where he does undergraduate research.

He can’t imagine trying to get his degree without the bus.

“It would put a big hindrance for me getting my education,” Fire said.

That’s why Fire is concerned about new proposals to modify the city bus routes — proposals that include eliminating Route No. 5’s loop through the Haskell campus.

“I wouldn’t like to see that resource taken away from Haskell students,” Fire said.

It’s a story that illustrates both the success of and challenges for the T: On one hand, it has become a critical resource for nearly 1,000 riders a day. On the other hand, it’s increasingly tough for officials to balance the riders’ needs with system efficiency.

“We’ve grown,” said Karin Rexroad, the city’s transit administrator. “We’re affecting more people, so it’s a much more painstaking (route) review.”

The proposed route changes — mostly tweaks to existing routes to tighten bus timing and eliminate underused trips — are the third round of proposed alterations since buses began running in December 2001.

“We actually have a standing route review scheduling committee — when we feel like we’ve had enough suggestions or reasons, we restart the process,” Rexroad said. “It’s kind of an annual review.

“Basically, we try and look at changes we feel would be improvements without negatively affecting existing riders,” she said. “We look at, by doing this, how are we affecting transfers, how are we affecting connections to key employers?”

Before route changes can be approved, there were two public hearings for riders and taxpayers to make their feelings known. The input will affect final decisions, Rexroad said, “a lot.”

“For example, the first really major (route change) we were looking at doing away with was the 27th and Scottsdale loop on Route 5,” she said. “There was a major outcry. And we figured out how to make it work.”

She was surprised to hear of concerns about eliminating the Haskell loop. Route No. 5 still would run past the Haskell campus along 23rd Street.

“We know of no ridership” for the loop, Rexroad said. “It’s going to be great if we hear from that population that they want that service. What we propose may not always be the right answer.”

Ann Foster, who coordinates the “bridge program” that connects Haskell students to research programs at KU, said the loop was important.

“It seriously affects my students,” she said. “My students rely on that bus to get them back and forth to KU.”

Haskell students wouldn’t be the only riders affected by proposed route changes.

The biggest proposed change, Rexroad said, would be to increase service along popular Route No. 8, which carries riders between downtown, the KU campus and South Iowa Street. The proposal is to have a bus run the route every 40 minutes — but to stay within budget, buses would run less frequently along some other routes after 6 p.m. and on Saturdays.