Bus system launch set back

The wheels of a new urban public bus service are not going round and round — at least for now.

The system, scheduled for launch by St. Tammany Parish Sept. 1, sputtered during the recent spate of hurricanes and now likely won’t start until January, parish officials said.

“Everything is in place. They were doing it, and suddenly we were in storm mode,” Suzanne Parsons Stymiest said Thursday.

Many of those involved with the launch, including St. Tammany Parish’s Chief Administrative Officer Bill Oiler, shifted resources for the past month or so and focused on hurricane recovery needs. Now, the system’s tank is being gassed once again. Parish officials are ironing out administrative changes and have sent out a request for proposals to transportation companies interested in bidding to operate the project.

The system, funded for three years with a $6 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration, is a “demand-response” system, meaning a 24- to 48-hour advance notice is needed for calls for pickups, Oiler said. A one-way fee of $1.50 will be required.

The mass transit system is the first parish initiated system and the second in St. Tammany behind Council on Aging St. Tammany, which offers a similar service.

There are no set routes yet, Oiler said, but he hopes in time to add permanent routes for the service that will be launched in Covington, Mandeville and Slidell areas.

The plan calls for eight vehicles that include handicap accessible entrances and hold 25 passengers each to run 10-16 hours a day. The winning contractor will be responsible for insurance, vehicle maintenance and more.

Although aimed for operation strictly in urban areas of Mandeville, Covington and Slidell, those boundaries may change when a 2010 census is complete. That census may redraw those districts labeled as urban, parish officials said.

For now that urban designation means many residents of Abita Springs, Madisonville, Lacombe and Folsom areas will not have access. They must use the similar bussing service already established by COAST.

That system uses its own 10- to 12-bus fleet, also on a demand-response system.

But those living on the borderlines of the urban areas “will just have to cross the street to call” for the new urban services, officials said. There may, however, be glitches at first.

“The first year is going to be rough because I’m the only one with transportation experience on my staff,” Oiler said when he introduced the plan in April. “But the interest is there. It’s just a matter of making it work the way we want it to work.”