Bill Reynolds insists on tight financial oversight.

Stephanie Russell hopes more people climb aboard.

And Tai Edwards? All she wants is the public to get more involved in the future of transportation on Mount Oread and throughout Lawrence, the next stop in an accelerating the public-transportation push powered by last month’s passage of increased sales taxes to preserve and enhance transit services.

“Saving it was good. That made people aware,” said Edwards, a Kansas University graduate student. “Now it’s a matter of fixing it.”

And that’s the goal of officials from KU and the city of Lawrence, who are working together to gather public input for improving — and perhaps combining — KU on Wheels with the city’s service, known as the T.

Edwards, Russell and Reynolds joined more than a dozen others who stopped by an open house Tuesday afternoon and evening at the Kansas Union, where transportation officials were available to answer questions, provide background, and solicit and accept complaints, ideas and suggestions for the future of the two systems.

Reynolds, retired Lawrence postmaster, gave organizers a comprehensive challenge. “We need a system that’s more efficient and more economical,” he said, “as opposed to just saying, ‘Now that we’ve got five-and-a-half million bucks, wow, how do we spend it?’ …

“I think the city needs to start from the ground up.”