An insurance issue centering around shelters at bus stops has prevented Lawrence Transit System from meeting today’s deadline for the start of its operations.
Dorothy Dowdell, Columbus operations director for LTS, said Thursday that insurance regulations will not allow bus routes to begin without shelters being in place at certain stops.
The city has a right to terminate its lease agreement with the Lawrence, Ind.-based company if buses are not rolling today according to its one-year-contract. City officials have yet to confirm if they will allow a time extension.
Dowdell said the initial plan was to install shelters after the buses had started routes.
“But just as far as a couple of stops that are questionable we don’t want to have any liability issues as far as any of the citizens being unsafe,” she said.
The buses to be used for the transit service were en route to Columbus when the issue was discovered. The buses were ultimately sent back.
Despite the setback, Dowdell said Lawrence Transit is ready to serve the city. There is not an official date set for when the shelters would be ready and the service would begin, she said.
“We’re wanting the public to know that we’re here and we’re ready to go. Everything is pretty much in place,” she said. “The shelter issue is what we’re working out now and then we can have something definite to tell the public.”
Dowdell said all stops are not required to have shelters.
The city put up signs last week where each of the pick-up points would be. The city’s contract with LTS states that the city would pay for the signs but could ask LTS to reimburse if the company does not begin services by today.
Routes and stops
Dowdell said there will be four bus routes running every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
A Highway 82/North Side route would leave Lehmberg Road and go down Highway 182, stopping at locations on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Seventh Avenue, Waterworks Road and 14th Street. The route would then go back to Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, to 23rd Street, 14th Street, 20th Street, back to Seventh Avenue, Military Road, 18th Street to Highway 45, Malco Theater, Walmart and TJ Maxx.
A South Lehmberg Street/Mississippi University for Women route would leave Lehmberg Road and go down William Roberts Road, with stops at: Yorkville Road, Highway 69, Airline Road, Bell Avenue, 15th Street South, College Street, Fifth Avenue, Highway 45, Malco Theater, Walmart and TJ Maxx.
The third route, a North Lehmberg/Hospital Road route, would leave Highway 182 going to Lehmberg Road, Warpath Road, Brouder Street, Highway 82, Gardner Boulevard, Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Military Road, Bluecutt Road, Leigh Drive and Fifth Street. The route would then go back to Leigh Drive and Bluecutt Road, arriving back on Highway 45 and stopping at Malco Theater, Walmart and TJ Maxx.
The express/East Mississippi Community College route would leave TJ Maxx and stop at the Columbus Soccer Complex, the Riverwalk, the WIN Job Center and the EMCC Mayhew campus.
Pricing
One-way passes will cost $2.50 each. All day passes will cost $5 for adults 60 and older and $6 for everyone else. Weekly bus passes would be $30. Seniors would pay $18 and MUW students would pay $24.
Monthly bus passes would cost $100. For seniors, the monthly rate would be $60 and the monthly rate for students would be $80.
Dowdell said she compared rates with other Mississippi cities hosting bus systems to decide on a suitable rate for Columbus.
Jobs
Upon starting, the service would create 20 local jobs immediately, Dowdell said. These jobs include bus drivers, maintenance workers and office personnel. Those positions have already been filled and drivers are on board waiting to hear when they’ll start, Dowdell said.
Once the system is up and running, there could be up to 60-75 employees, she added.
“We’ve got a large volume of drivers we had already screened and we did background checks. I’m still getting calls for drivers, so I constantly make sure they know to immediately put their application on the website,” she said. “We do a background check and make sure they have the proper class of (commercial driver’s license).”
Feedback
Dowdell has not yet disclosed where the LTS hub will be located, when people can begin going there to buy passes or where buses will be stored. That information will be available when a starting date for the service is set, Dowdell said.
“Feedback from the community has been awesome. We’ve received a volume of calls from people wanting to help,” Dowdell said. “There’s one lady … who began making fliers to get the information out in the community making people aware that the system is available.”
LTS began running routes in Lawrence, Ind., in May 2012.
Columbus Chief Operations Officer David Armstrong said he would have to discuss whether or not to allow an extension with Mayor Robert Smith. A call to Smith was not returned as of press time.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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