Menomonie (WQOW) - The wheels on the bus could soon be
logging more miles in Menomonie. A city commission is looking at increasing
services to residents.
The hope is to grow the city's bus
routes, and down the road, they would like to be able to link up with Eau Claire.
Public transportation has been
missing in Dunn County.
"The transit system
in Menomonie quit operating in the 1960's. It's been that period of time since
there's been any regular transit system," said Kent Conklin, Dunn County
Transit Department Head.
But it could be making a comeback
thanks to the Dunn County Transit Commission, which is hoping to add new bus
routes within Menomonie and beyond.
"What you have in
Menomonie is a lot of rental housing all over the community, but you have a
really high portion of rental housing on the south end. And you have a lot of
jobs and services on the North end, and the campus in the center of town,"
Conklin said.
In 2011 a small bus route was
revived, mostly for UW-Stout students.
"The North-South
route is a one hour loop, and we're finding that people don't want to really be
in a bus for an hour, they'd rather it be shorter, like 15 minutes," said
Conklin.
The commission is planning to break
that into two smaller loops. They would also add an additional route.
"What we don't have
right now is services to the east end of town, and that's where your hospital,
job service, DMV. They basically don't have regular scheduled route bus service
right now. We hope to implement that in the next few months," Conklin
said.
The hope is that service will
eventually extend beyond city limits. A survey done by UW-Stout shows growing
interest in a route between Menomonie and Eau
Claire.
"You have a college
campus in Eau Claire,
a college campus in Menomonie, and you have two communities that are quite
close together," said Conklin.
A mix of UW-Stout student fees,
local funds and state transportation dollars must all be approved in order to
begin moving forward. Bus fares would also factor in.
"You build ridership;
it just doesn't happen all at once. So we have challenges facing us in terms of
revenue," Conklin said.
The hope is to add in the additional
route through the city of Menomonie
by the end of February.
But the bus route between Eau Claire and Menomonie
is in the early stages of planning and could be a few years away.
Typically the city has 5 buses
running, and could add as many as 3 more with the addition of new routes.
