Downtown Baton Rouge started another shuttle system Thursday to help state employees get around the area, but University students may have this service in the future.
A second shuttle system went into effect for a three-week “trial run” to transport employees from the Department of Transportation and Development office to various dining destinations while their cafeteria is under reconstruction, said Dawn Starns, special assistant to commissioner of administration of the Downtown Development District.
The first shuttle began about a month ago, bringing people to various locations such as the State Capitol, the Sheraton and Argosy Casino.
Starns said although there are no plans on the table to extend this shuttle to the University’s campus, there is room for discussion.
“We do want to link Southern and LSU with downtown because they’re both right down the street, but a lot of things would need to happen,” Starns said. “The reason our shuttles work right now is because they’re very timely, so it would have to be a separate system for campuses so that it wouldn’t cut into the other schedules.”
She said the shuttle programs still are in early stages and showing promise, but DDD wants to keep track of the successes to find out if extending services would be worthwhile.
“Initially everything’s popular, but we need to be sure it’s sustainable,” Starns said. “We would also have to figure out how we would fund it and what the usage would be.”
Jeff Fluhr, assistant executive director of DDD, said new funds are always becoming available for potential projects, and a connection with downtown and LSU seems a likely possibility.
“In the long term we’d love to see the opportunity,” Fluhr said. “We’ve had a shuttle system during games for a while now, and that response has been tremendous.”
Starns said the rebounding theme of having shuttles is to encourage people to use their cars less. The state is able to provide these systems for free because of a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality fund from the federal government to help improve the air quality in Baton Rouge.
“The idea is to get people out their cars and use compressed natural gas vehicles like these shuttles,” Starns said. “The federal government gives money to the state to try and find ways to mediate the air quality, and we’re taking the lead because Baton Rouge is a designated clean city with high levels of pollution.”
She said the city got $1.3 million in federal funds, and the state gave $300,000 to finance the buses and make it free to passengers.
Fluhr said the desire to have a shuttle system is there, but he could not give a realistic timeline of when the campus could expect this.
“LSU has been making long-term investments in downtown as far as with the museum of art and integrating classes here, so that will probably make that timeline shorter,” Fluhr said.
Davis Rhorer, executive director of DDD, said he would certainly love to see a direct line from downtown and LSU’s campus, and the possibility would be stronger as downtown’s entertainment section begins to take shape.
“We’re working on the entertainment aspect, and I just see a system between downtown and LSU as a natural,” Rhorer said.