Starkville residents gathered Thursday night for a public hearing on a proposed expanded campus-city shuttle service. The university applied for federal funding last Friday and is waiting for approval from the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
“This is the first phase of a long project. We are crawling before we walk,” MSU’s assistant to the president Melvin Ray said at the meeting.
Paul Welch, director of support services, estimated startup costs for the project at over $1 million. The 5311 federal grant for which the university applied would cover 80 percent of beginning costs, and 50 percent of annual costs, which Welch estimated at slightly more than $700,000. The two percent tax, shuttle budget and city would match the remaining expenses for annual costs, while MSU rolling stocks would match the remaining 20 percent of startup costs.
The two proposed routes tackle roughly a 27-mile stretch around Starkville and would serve to connect students and community members with health providers, residential areas and businesses, Welch said. As proposed, the shuttles would run from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A study by the Carl Small Town Center showed a need for the system, but implementation of the new routes lies heavily upon federal funding, said Mike Harris, transportation coordinator for MSU.
“Everything hinges on the approval of the grant,” Harris said.