Topeka ? Van-pool riders Wednesday urged lawmakers to keep their program on the road, saying it helped the environment and made good state employees happy.

“The program is good for the state of Kansas; it does not cost the state any money, yet provides a mode of transportation that makes working for the state government more attractive,” said Abe Rezayazdi, a van-pool coordinator from Lawrence.

Rep. Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, chairman of the House budget-writing committee, was noncommittal about the chances of legislation that would keep the program going. He said the committee “probably would work on the bill before too long.”

The dispute is over the state-run van pool — a group of 20 large state vans that bring employees back and forth to Topeka from Lawrence, the Kansas City area and other locations. One van is used for workers going to Manhattan.

More than 270 employees — about 100 from Lawrence — ride these vans. Most are state employees, but 30 aren’t and work for private companies in downtown Topeka.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ Department of Administration proposed eliminating the program, saying it wasn’t self-sufficient and opened the state up to liability if there were an accident. Administration officials also stated that as a matter of policy, the state shouldn’t be in the business of operating a “subsidized rental agency.”

That proposal raised howls of protests from van-pool riders, who said they had always been told that their mileage fees, usually around 46 cents per mile, paid for the program, including the cost of replacement vans.

Shawn Howell, a van-pool coordinator from Lawrence, said, “The state benefits from the van pool by reduction of traffic, conservation of nonrenewable resources, and a reduction of solid waste and air pollution.”

Lawmakers with van-pool constituents, including Lawrence legislators, filed a bill that would prevent the administration from cutting the program, and a recent state audit said the administration exaggerated figures used to justify its claim that the program wasn’t self-sufficient.

On Wednesday, Reps. Tom Sloan, a Republican from Lawrence, and Paul Davis, a Democrat from Lawrence, offered a bill they said preserved the van pool while taking care of some of the administration’s concerns, such as making sure the program pays for itself.

“If we can make the van pool pay for itself, I don’t see any reason why it ought to be eliminated,” Davis said.

Davis said the increase in the per-mile fee would probably be upward of 10 cents. The rate is determined by daily route mileage divided by the number of passengers.

At the hearing, the administration department said it was willing to continue the program if that’s what the Legislature wanted to do.

If the bill becomes law, “the department will make the necessary adjustments to make the program self-sufficient,” said Carol Foreman, deputy secretary of administration.

But some lawmakers questioned why nonstate employees were allowed to use the vans, and said they were concerned that some vans were driven for personal use.

Administration officials said the program was set up in 1980 with some federal funds that required that they allow nonstate employees. As far as personal use of the vans, van-pool administrators said that was minimal and the state was reimbursed for that use.

The bill is HB 2666.