Mississippi State University and the city of Starkville are partnering to create a concept for a joint city and university shuttle bus system.
MSU President Mark Keenum said he learned of the old joint shuttle system, looked at the concept and liked the connectivity it provided.
“This is a mass transit opportunity. [The university] is growing,” he said. “So if we [create the joint system], we can make campus more accessible and alleviate automobile traffic.”
Mayor Parker Wiseman said the plan is still at an early stage.
“The idea is [to] see over the next several months whether this is a program that can work in Starkville and if the costs of the program can be sustained,” he said.
 
Mike Harris, Director of Parking Operations, said the reason the old Starkville shuttle route was not as successful as it should have been was partially because of its organization.
“It did not have a set schedule,” he said. “Dependability and consistency are what [riders] are looking for when depending on public transportation.”
To remedy this, Harris said shuttles could be tracked online using Live Bus Maps and estimated arrival times. Arrival times could also possibly be displayed on shuttle shelters like the current Montgomery stop shelter on MSU’s campus.
A route on Highway 12, a residential apartment route, a connector route between MSU and downtown Starkville and a medical route are currently proposed as possible shuttle pathways.
 There would be various stops on each route and shuttle shelters would be constructed, Harris said.
“Everyone would have to agree on routes and stops on the routes, times of operation and days of operation,” he said. “We’re in the preliminary stages [of development] and those are the questions we’re currently deciding.”
Harris said both MSU and city officials have to come to the table and have open dialogue to make the shuttle system successful.
“Once we come to a concise plan, we can move forward,” he said. “We want to be diligent in what we do and make it successful. We want to look at every aspect and know it will be successful.”
A large portion of Starkville’s citizens interested in a public transit system would want to use it to travel to and from MSU’s campus, but other residents would be interested in traveling from point to point within the city, Wiseman said.
“The city is larger than the university,” he said. “But serving a large portion of [the residents of Starkville] is serving the university.”
Keenum said the dialogue between leadership is just beginning, and a lot of groundwork has to be done with the MSU community, Starkville citizens and the business community.
“We have to determine if in the long term project if [the shuttle system] is a benefit to the campus and to the students, faculty and staff,” he said.
Feedback from students, faculty and staff will be taken into account, and the joint shuttle system would be fueled by local support, Keenum said.
“If there is support, we will pursue resources,” he said.
Between now and March 2012, officials will come to decisions over the shuttle system and put together a grant package for the Mississippi Department of Transportation that would help pay for the shuttle system, Harris said.
To be eligible for the grant, the shuttle system would have to be part of a transit authority; a university or city cannot apply independently, Keenum said.
One option would be to join the Meridian Transit Authority, he said.
However, it is possible Starkville or a joint Oktibbeha County transit authority could also be used.
Wiseman said the grant program is a necessity to fund the operation.
“We would determine whether or not to proceed [with plans for the shuttle system] by March 2012,” he said.
Other communities with universities have similar transit systems that work well, Keenum said.
“Once we know the obligations of the university, city and county, we will decide if it is worthwhile,” he said.