With the receipt of the Rural General Public Transportation Program grant through the Mississippi Department of Transportation, Mississippi State University and the city of Starkville will be equipped with two new campus-community shuttle routes beginning spring 2014.
The grant provides more than $800,000 for transit operations and approximately $1.5 million for the purchase of 12 new shuttles. Five shuttles will be delivered this month and five next month, including two vintage-style trolleys that will service Starkville’s downtown area.
Mike Harris, MSU director of Parking Services, said the message he wants to give to the students and the community is this service is free.
“Being able to get on a bus and go somewhere at no cost is something that is certainly valuable to some folks, especially with almost $3-$4 a gallon gas,” he said.
MSU President Mark Keenum said via email that providing a reliable and convenient means of transportation such as this will serve a great need for MSU students as well as residents and businesses all across Starkville, and it will help ease traffic congestion as well.
“I have said often that what is good for Mississippi State University is good for the community and vice versa. This transit system is an example of that. It is also reflective of the strong collaborative spirit and teamwork that exists between the university and the community,” Keenum said.
Harris said the city helps parking services with in-kind services, meaning the city of Starkville will install concrete pads for the shuttle shelters, run electrical outlets for the shelters and take responsibility for the electricity.
Ward 5 Alderman Scott Maynard said it is a great partnership between the city and the university, and he has not heard any negative comments whatsoever about the project.
“I think like any project for this to be successful, it needs to be marketed effectively and just let the students know it is there,” Maynard said.
Harris said the Starkville MSU Area Rapid Transit shuttle system will have stops at OCH Regional Medical Center, Wal-Mart Supercenter and Kroger in addition to other stops at residential areas. 
“We did a GIS study on all (of) Starkville, and we broke them down on certain areas in Starkville as far as demographics — where people live, (residential areas), retail areas — and then we color-coded all of those, and then we found a route that hit all of these,” Harris said.
MSU Student Association President Michael Hogan said every week he gets requests to extend the hours of the shuttle service from students who do not have a car or international students for whom it may be difficult to afford a car.
“Well, Mississippi State can’t be expected to fund a shuttle system like the one that is coming our way, so this is huge for us,” he said.
An MSU shuttle driver who chose to remain anonymous said there was a public transit system in place in Starkville prior to this one which had to end due to unforeseen reasons several years ago. 
“I only hope this doesn’t end in similar fashion,” he said.
In response to how the SMART shuttle system is different from the earlier one that failed, Harris said the time and days of operation of the new system have been extended. SMART system will operate Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“One of the main things that I think is going to make this more successful than the other one is because it is a fixed route system,” he said, “We also have the real time GPS system which will allow folks to schedule their pickups based upon that real-time application.”