City bus system faces changes

By Alaide Vilchis

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Students might not have the option to buy a Lawrence bus pass through KU on Wheels next semester because of a budget crisis in the City of Lawrence.

Currently, students are able to get a year-long pass to ride “The T” by paying an additional $25 when purchasing a University bus pass.

Cliff Galante, Lawrence public transit administrator, said the program might “disappear” as a way to increase funding for the Lawrence bus system by $450,000 next year.

The possible end of the program, which is currently used by 300 students, was discussed Tuesday night The public transit advisory committee met to make its recommendations to the city commission.

“Based in our budget challenges and considering that such a small percentage of the general student population really utilizes that service really it doesn’t make sense for the city to continue to offer those kinds of discounts,” Galante said.

One of the alternatives to replace the special discount for University students is a reduced fare.

This reduction in prices, however, might not help students’ pockets much if the city commission passes another suggestion for funding of “The T.” The transit department has suggested that buses change their fares from 50 cents to $1, the same cost as a ride on the University buses.

Larry Miller, bus driver of route eight, which travels through campus, said that about 60 percent of the people who ride his bus are students.

“Students will definitely be affected by the changes,” Miller said. “Ridership might very well decrease because of this.”

Galante said that if the city commission does not find the money to fund “The T” next year, the transportation system will have to cut Saturday bus services, reduce hours and service area, .

The bus would stop running at 6 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. Buses would run on 80-minute intervals compared to the current 40 minutes.

Era’me Spearman, Kansas City, Kan., senior, said she depends on “The T” to go to work during the summer and said her schedule would have to change drastically to accommodate any changes.

“I don’t want to sit there and wait at the bus stop for long to catch another bus to go to work,” Spearman said. “I would have to get ready earlier, and leave my house earlier and I just wouldn’t want to do that.”

May Davis, transportation coordinator for KU on Wheels, said it was too soon to tell if the possible budget cuts would affect the talks about closer cooperation between University and Lawrence buses.

Galante said that although the budget deficit would not affect the efforts of the two transit systems to cooperate it might affect the services they can provide together.

According to the city budget calender, the city commission will release “The T’s” budget for next fiscal year by the end of this summer.

—Edited by Ben Smith

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