TOM DORSEY / Salina Journal Tom Mulhern (left), Pat Wallerius and Donnie Marrs listen Tuesday at the League of Women Voters Lunch and Learn.

By DARRIN STINEMAN  Salina Journal

OCCK -- which provides the majority of Salina's public transportation -- is considering implementing a fixed-route bus system, OCCK vice president Patrick Wallerius said Tuesday afternoon during a forum on public transportation.

Wallerius said his agency has been studying a fixed-route system in Hutchinson, a city about the same size as Salina.

"It's a good model to start with," Wallerius said at the League of Women Voters' Lunch and Learn forum at the Salina Public Library. "I've been somewhat opposed to fixed-route, because I didn't think it would really work. But after looking at Hutchinson, which has a similar geographic area and population, we're doing around 50,000 rides a year, and they're doing 100,000 rides a year. There's something they're doing as far as fixed-route that's working,"

The Kansas Department of Transportation, which provides most of OCCK's funding, has asked it to consider adding a fixed-route system, Wallerius said. Even if one is implemented, it probably would be at least two years before it's in service, he said.

OCCK currently provides rides anywhere in Salina for $2, but because of high demand for the service, those requesting rides generally have to call at least a day in advance, Wallerius said.

"The biggest thing we're trying to overcome is trying to eliminate the turn-downs," Wallerius told a gathering of about a dozen people at the forum. "Our program is so successful that demand is higher than capacity."

Salina's other two city-supported transportation programs are Hotline, which provides vouchers good for $2 taxi rides, and the Saline County Commission on Aging, which provides $2 coupons for cab rides.

Aging commission director Tom Mulhern, who participated in the forum along with Wallerius and Mayor Donnie Marrs, said demand for his service grew 30 percent in 2006.

"Obviously, 30 percent growth is not something we're going to be able to sustain for many years in a row," Mulhern said. "That increase in demand is fueled primarily by younger riders."

Because of the increase in demand, the commission on aging in December reduced the maximum number of coupons individuals could receive from 20 to 10 a month, he said.

Because of the rise in demand for public transportation, the commission on aging has submitted a plan to the Kansas Department of Transportation that would merge OCCK and the aging commission's public transportation operations, Mulhern said.

If approved, the new arrangement would start in July.

"All the calls would go to OCCK," Mulhern said, "and if they were not able to provide rides with their own vehicles, they would call a taxi, and we would use the funds we have available to help subsidize that."

Mulhern said 84 percent of those who sought coupons in 2005 and 2006 had a personal income of less than $15,000 a year, and 70 percent were women.

Marge Mintun, a social worker who helps organize the Lunch and Learn events, said a fixed-route system would help low-income people.

"A lot of them are really at a loss to get jobs or keep jobs because of (transportation problems)," Mintun said. "I think (a fixed-route system) would be a real help."

Mintun asked Marrs for the city's stance is on implementing a fixed-route system.

"I think we would have to look at that very seriously to determine what the costs were and what the benefits were," Marrs said. "At this point, the city has no stated opinion."

City Commissioner Abner Perney said he questioned the need for a fixed-route system, because, even though there is significant demand for public transportation, it comes from a small pool of individuals.

"We're only talking about 500 to 1,000 people out of almost 50,000," Perney said. "On the face of it, to me, it's an unworkable problem."

Hampton McDowell, executive director of the Salina Area United Way, said he believes there are demographic groups that would use a fixed-route system that don't use the current systems.

"There is probably considerable latent demand that people are not using the system, first of all, because it doesn't fit their purposes if they are young," McDowell said. "There probably is a demand that we're not seeing over and above the rides we currently have, because we don't have the vehicles and the capacity to draw it out."

The Community Transportation Association of America will send consultants to Salina sometime this year to study the idea of a fixed-route system, Mulhern said.

"That would be very timely," he said, "and very helpful."

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