Consultants are lining up to help Lawrence and Kansas University improve coordination between their transit systems.

Five firms met Monday’s deadline for submitting proposals to become the systems’ “implementation specialist” for coordinating routes, schedules and other detail-oriented matters.

Officials hope to have a firm hired by Feb. 1, and the experts’ preliminary recommendations in hand within a month. The goal is to print and distribute a consolidated route map and coordinated schedules by spring break, in time for KU students to make decisions about where they want to live for the next school year.

“It’s a tall order,” said Donna Hultine, director of KU Parking and Transit. “It’s a really tall order.”

Officials have yet to decide how much to spend on the effort, although they have asked the Kansas Department of Transportation for up to $120,000. City and KU leaders have agreed to split any local expenses, which they would anticipate being less than $15,000 each.

Officials declined Monday to disclose the names of the five firms until a final recommendation is forwarded to Lawrence city commissioners and KU Provost Richard Lariviere for approval later this month.

Coordinating the two systems — the T, which serves the city of Lawrence, and KU on Wheels, which connects the city with the university’s main campus — long has been considered a goal for officials at City Hall and on Mount Oread. But the effort has picked up speed since November, when Lawrence voters overwhelmingly approved two increases in sales taxes to support transit service.

Now both systems accept each others’ passes for ridership, and their leaders are working together on a joint task force to find operational efficiencies and service enhancements. The systems still have separate routes and schedules.

The incoming implementation specialist — a description providing a formal alternative to the “consultant” label — will be expected to help change that. The specialist will be expected to look at the two systems’ existing routes, fares, schedules, resources and other factors and come up with potential changes that could squeeze out more value and service.

“We want to look at the city’s routes and KU’s routes and see where there may be some areas to eliminate overlap or increase frequency so that students and the rest of the community are getting their needs met in a more effective way,” said Casey Toomay, the city’s budget manager and interim transit administrator.