Early last month, Lawrence Transit System officials told Columbus councilmen a public transportation system would begin operating in the city in three to four weeks.
Two days later, Dorothy Dowdell, director of Columbus operations for the Indiana-based private company, was met with opposition from downtown business owners and the Historic Preservation Commission when she sought approval for five bus stops and shelters in the historic district. Those proposed stops were ultimately removed from the routes.
Since then, it’s been unclear when Columbus would be getting on the bus.
A ride-around of one of the four routes late last week showed signs where stops would be, as well as spray-painted lines indicating where shelters would go. But there were no shelters.
The HPC matter was one of a number of stumbling blocks for Lawrence Transit as it has tried to come to Columbus. In July, councilmen voted to set an Aug. 9 deadline for the services to begin. Dowdell then found that insurance regulations prohibited Lawrence Transit from beginning bus routes until it had shelters in place at some of the stops. The city gave the company a 17-day extension. During that time, the city found it erred in not informing Dowdell she would need to go to the HPC to get approval for the proposed stops in the historic district before moving forward. Since then, councilmen have not set a new deadline for bus services to begin.
Lawrence Transit had a website informing visitors that the company would be branching out to the Friendly City. The entire website has since been disabled.
Despite the uncertainty and lack of updates, the proposed bus system still has support among some councilmen. Kabir Karriem is not one of them. When the matter first came to councilmen for consideration last year, Karriem voted in favor because he thought it would be an asset. But he wants to be in the know on where things stand and isn’t.
“I have no new information. I haven’t gotten an update. I don’t know,” he said. “If it had to come before the council right now to have a vote on it, I wouldn’t vote for it. The dates keep on moving. We haven’t been abreast of the updates of the transit system. I’ve been getting numerous phone calls…as far as people asking when the bus service is going to start. I can’t tell them.”
Contacted Wednesday by The Dispatch, Dowdell said she was en route to Indianapolis to speak with other Lawrence Transit officials and afterwards would have information regarding what the company’s updated Columbus plans were. Subsequent calls to her were not returned, nor were calls to Columbus Mayor Robert Smith and council attorney Jeff Turnage. Chief operations officer David Armstrong said he had not heard anything new since the Sept. 4 meeting.
Councilmen Gene Taylor and Charlie Box joined Karriem, saying they’d not heard anything new but they’re still in support of Lawrence Transit’s efforts and want them to start services as soon as they can.
“I have not heard a word about it,” Box said. “I’m looking at this as a business that wants to come to Columbus and I hope they come, but if they can’t work it out, they can’t work it out. We haven’t got a whole lot of skin in the game. We’ve spent a little money on signs.”
Box said the fault doesn’t rest completely on Lawrence Transit because city officials should have communicated issues such as the one that came before the HPC “on the front end.”
“All those things probably should have been discussed with them and they weren’t,” he said. “It’s been almost a comedy errors in getting the thing put together.”
Taylor said he was still hopeful that LTS’ plans would be realized.
“Several people are constantly asking, ‘When is it coming?'” he said. “I wish it was tomorrow but I really don’t know.”
Dowdell said in August that 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 and Leigh Drive. 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.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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