Public transit officials on Tuesday announced preliminary plans for growth at the Starkville Board of Aldermen meeting, which could mean more coverage for many in the city.
Mississippi State University Parking and Transit Services director Jeremiah Dumas briefed the Board and public on the growth seen for the Starkville-MSU Area Rapid Transit, or S.M.A.R.T, and discussed future expansion.
Dumas said plans call for an increase of coverage along the Boardtown North, East Lee and City Hall routes.
S.M.A.R.T. also plans to add another bus on the Highway 12 Express route.
Dumas said the public hearing was held primarily to ask the city for money, considering the majority of the funding for the service comes from state grants. The hearing was part of their grant proposal, which is due next week.
“I think everything will be good,” Dumas said. “We aren’t required to do our public hearing here but it gives us a good opportunity. It’s in the city and gives us the opportunity to ask the city for money, because we don’t get any money from them. These are the constituents we are trying to serve and to hear their thoughts is always very helpful.”
To fund the system, MSU must file a state-mandated grant application each year with the Mississippi Department of Transportation. MDOT provides 80 percent of the funding when MSU Parking and Transit Services pursues capital improvement projects, while the city provides in-kind services, such as constructing sidewalks around bus stops.
Another big set of changes S.M.A.R.T. looks to implement include technology upgrades, such as improvements to shelter and bus GPS technology. Dumas said many of the buses and shelters currently use 2G technology, which is being phased out by AT&T.
The GPS systems will be upgraded to 3G, which could one day be coupled with a mobile app to give riders even more information on the service.
“We have to communicate across that spectrum,” Dumas said.
The floor was also open to public comment, with some residents voicing their concerns about the current offerings of the service.
Dorothy Isaac, 58, had one of her legs amputated last year and said the S.M.A.R.T paratransit service is not offered for where she lives in the Rolling Hills subdivision. The paratransit service provides transportation on demand for disabled and elderly citizen.
“We have a need because we are people who need to get taxi-cabs when we need to go to the grocery store,” she said. “We need transportation to go pay our bills. I need assistance. We are providing transportation for the schools, but I’m a taxpayer.”
Plans call for the purchase of at least one new van in the near future, with the service transporting in between 150 and 250 people per year since S.M.A.R.T. began paratransit services.
Diumas said the two challenges for expanding services to places like Rolling Hills are funding and infrastructure.
“We have a lot of places we want to stop but we have to have an accessible sidewalk to that area, “ he said. “We can’t just drop you off in the middle of the road Developing the infrastructure and finding the money.”
Dumas also provided the Board with an update on current numbers for the system. He said 2.1 million riders have used the service since Jan. 1, 2014.
Twenty-two percent of the riders since the service began traveled on city routes, which Dumas said underscored the need for the growth.