A bicyclist loads his bike onto the front of a T bus at a stop in downtown Lawrence this past December.

Lack of money vs. lack of time.

People in the former category use the city’s public transit system, while people in the latter largely don’t.

Those were some of the major findings from a pair of surveys gauging interest in the T and the city’s paratransit system.

“What struck me is that almost three quarters of the people who use the bus make less than $25,000 per year,” said Cliff Galante, the city’s public transit administrator. “People who use the bus really don’t have many other options. It is pretty clear that they can’t afford $7 cab trips.”

But results from a citywide survey – a questionnaire was inserted in utility bills – found that it may be a tough sell to get additional people to begin riding the bus.

The top three reasons citizens gave for not riding the bus were: They prefer to drive, bus travel takes too long compared to travel by car, and it is too far to walk to the bus stop.

“People have basically said they like to drive,” Galante said. “It is clear we’ll have to change people’s attitudes, and that sometimes can be a hard thing to do.”

It could be particularly hard given tight budget times for the city. City commissioners already have been warned that it likely will cost significantly more to operate the T in 2009 because a city contract that capped the city’s diesel fuel costs for the bus fleet is expiring. Many of the city’s buses also need to be replaced.

That’s why city commissioners have contemplated reducing transit service by 30 percent to 50 percent in an effort to control costs. Danny Kaiser, assistant director of transit and parking for Kansas University, said to increase ridership the city probably needs to be looking at spending more money to increase the frequency of buses on various routes.

“Convenience definitely is the issue,” Kaiser said. “But that gets right back to money. If you want the ridership, it truly does take a financial investment.”

If city commissioners aren’t able to put more money into the service to attract those “choice riders,” Galante said the city may want to start viewing the bus system as more of a social service.

“You can pretty much go anywhere you want in Lawrence on our system,” Galante said. “You may not get there as quick as you would like, but you can get there.

“In my opinion I think serving that social service need is the greatest need we’re filling right now. People talk a lot about growing traffic congestion, but it is still not to the point in this area that it is going to cause people to take the bus.”

Here’s a look at some of the other survey results:

¢ Overall, 55 percent of the approximately 1,300 people who returned surveys said they viewed public transportation in Lawrence favorably. About 25 percent had a neutral view, while 20 percent viewed it unfavorably.

¢ When asked what likely would cause them to start riding the bus, the most frequent response was if their car becomes unavailable due to repairs or other reasons. The second most frequent response was if gasoline prices remain high.

¢ 38 percent of those responding said funding for public transit should be somewhat greater than it is now; 17 percent said it should be much greater than it is now; 19 percent said it should be reduced; 19 percent said it should stay the same, and 7 percent said they were undecided.

Neither the ridership survey nor the citizen-wide survey was scientific.