PUBLIC TRAVEL PLAN ADVANCES

The St. Landry Parish Council has voted to request a formal feasibility study of a proposed public transportation system for the parish.

The request was put forward by Leslie Handy, Opelousas' director of community development, at a council meeting Tuesday.

"What we have now is a demand response system that Community Action coordinates. What we would like to see is a system with fixed routes, in some places a bus stopping every 30 minutes; a $1 fee to ride with 50 cents for transfers; a $10 weekly pass," Handy said.

While the final vote was 8-0 with District 6 Alderman Hurlin Dupre abstaining, getting to the vote took a great deal of debate.

Parish President Don Menard, while supporting the idea of a public transit system, wanted assurance such a system wouldn't endanger what the St. Landry Community Action Agency has now.

"(Community Action Director Donald) Robinson has done a tremendous job. We have to be very careful. We don't want to jeopardize community action's funding," Menard said.

"I want to dispel any myths that we want to replace community action. We want to pour more resources into community action," Handy said. "Community action will be the provider. We just want to change the way the service is delivered."

She said there are numerous grants available that could be use to expand the existing service, which currently is used primarily to transport low-income individuals to health care services.

District 5 Alderman Ronald Buschel said the parish has to be careful about such grants. "There are numerous bus routes that are funded from highway trust funds but those areas are not getting anything for their roads. We need to do nothing until we get a feasibility study," Buschel said.

As the proposed bus route would connect to Lafayette's public transportation system, District 13 Councilman Gary Corville wanted to make sure St. Landry Parish didn't bear all the costs.

"Absolutely," agreed Nadine Dunbar with the Governor's Office of Disability Affairs, which will fund the feasibility study. "It will be a cooperative program."

To all other questions, Dunbar said that is why the feasibility study is required. "Those are all things that will be answered by the study," she said.

Handy has spent the past few months meeting with every mayor in the parish and conducting her own, informal, feasibility study.

While Handy presented each councilman copies of dozens of endorsement letters from various parish agencies and politicians, Eunice Alderwoman Margaret Simpson-Fruge was on hand to speak on the need.

"I'm here to tell you the people want this transportation system," Simpson-Fruge said.

After the meeting, Dunbar said the formal request for the study from the council was the last step in the process.

"Now the work can begin. We will be contacting consultants. The study should be complete in the next couple of months," Dunbar said.

By William Johnson
wjohnson@dailyworld.com