LOWELL -- Residents soon may have access to public buses after going without Ozark Regional Transit services for years, city and transit officials said.
"We need to hear from the public," Mayor Eldon Long said Tuesday.
At A Glance
Public Meeting
Ozark Regional Transit officials plan a public, input meeting at 2:30-5:30 p.m. Thursday at Lowell City Hall’s conference room. The meeting is open to anyone, including residents and business owners, and will be an “open house” that features displays of route options and timetables for starting.
Source: Ozark Regional Transit
Lowell stopped offering public transportation through Ozark Regional about seven years ago, Long said. The transit stopped services to the city before the city ceased funding in 2008, said Joel Gardner, transit executive director.
Officials want to see whether public transportation is something residents want, Long and Gardner said. Ozark Regional plans a public meeting on bus transportation from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, Gardner said.
A fixed route, which would cost about $140,000, could be too expensive for Lowell now, but it might be a long-term goal, Gardner said. Once residents say what the need is, the city will look at funding, Long said.
"All options are open," he said.
A couple of members of a senior center recently asked for more public transportation, Gardner said. Long said he hadn't heard many people asked about the service.
"People are doing alternative things to meet their needs," he said.
The city has some para-transit service through the J.B. Hunt Transport Senior Activity Center, said Susan Moore, executive director of the Office of Human Concern in Rogers. The center is contracted for para-transit by the Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Arkansas, she said.
Between June 2013 to July 2014, the agency ran or paid for 15,323 trips for Benton County residents and 20,812 trips in Washington County, according to documents provided by Jerry Mitchell, agency executive director.
The service at the center and agency is for people older than 60, Mitchell said. About 7 percent of Lowell's 7,301 population was 65 or older in 2010, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, the most recent available.
Elderly residents could use more public transportation options because it helps them remain mobile, Mitchell said. It also means family members won't need to take off work to take their loved ones to appointments, he said.
"The big thing is is that as people get older, they do tend to rely on other means of transportation than their private vehicles," Mitchell said.
Long said he's open to a fixed route in Lowell -- a city between major tourist attractions such as Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville and Arvest Ballpark in Springdale. There are people who want the city to connect via public transportation to other Northwest Arkansas cities, he said.
NW News on 01/28/2015