[12/12/04] A draft proposal for public transportation in Vicksburg and Warren County will be presented at public meetings Monday and Tuesday evenings.

Consultants with LSC Transportation will present a plan in the works for about two years now to provide bus service along five major corridors in Vicksburg.

The proposal is also available on the LSC Web site under current projects. That report shows that the initial start-up cost of the project would be about $3.2 million with an annual operating cost of about $721,000.

The report also lays out a proposed schedule and routes that are:

From downtown to Ceres.

From downtown to Kings and the port, and to River Region Medical Center via Jackson Street.

From downtown to Rainbow Casino on Warrenton Road.

From downtown to Vicksburg Factory Outlets via Clay Street.

From downtown to Wal-Mart SuperCenter via Cherry Street, Halls Ferry Road and Pemberton Square Boulevard.

“We’re covering the areas that really need to be and trying to get to all the places we need to,” said A.T. Stoddard of LSC Transportation Consultants.

The routes would include a flexible routing service that would also pick up passengers in adjacent areas where there were no scheduled stops.

Funding for the project has not been identified, but consultants with LSC have said funding from federal grants, as well as local sources, could be available.

“It looks like there could be a variety of local sources including some businesses, the city and the county,” Stoddard said.

The draft plan also recommends forming a Transportation Advisory Committee that would oversee the development of a Vicksburg Warren County Transit Department, hiring a manger and start-up of the program.

If implemented next year, buses could start rolling about a year later.

At one time, Vicksburg was served by buses along most of the main streets of Vicksburg and as far north as Kings. The company went out of business in the 1960s.

Today, there is no public transportation except for taxis.

Figures from the last U.S. Census showed that nearly 10 percent of Warren County residents have no available transportation and nearly 15 percent rely on carpools, but only 1.2 percent use public transportation.

National statistics show that 40 percent of low- and moderate-income families’ personal income is spent on transportation needs. Locally the average income is $17,527.

The public meetings will be at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Jackson Street Community Center and at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Hawkins United Methodist Church Abundant Life Center.