ROCHELLE — On Wednesday, the Lee-Ogle Transportation System hosted two public meetings in Rochelle concerning its ongoing work on studying the feasibility of a potential scheduled bus route in the city.

Residents and community stakeholders were invited to attend the meeting. The first meeting Wednesday was attended by representatives from LOTS, the Hub City Senior Center, and HOPE of Ogle County. The meetings and the study are being carried out by public transportation consultants RLS & Associates.

LOTS and RLS & Associates aim to evaluate options for fixed-route bus service to enhance access to workplaces, medical care, education, shopping, recreation, and more for residents in Rochelle. The project team is eager to hear from a diverse range of stakeholders, including senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, transit riders and non-riders, students, and anyone who values transportation as a vital community resource. The City of Dixon is being studied for a fixed bus route as well. LOTS and RLS & Associates are circulating a brief survey to gather information on potential fixed bus routes that can be found at surveymonkey.com/r/LOTS.

"We want to look at whether it's feasible to have a fixed, scheduled bus route in these communities," RLS & Associates Consultant Christy Campoll said. "And if we determine that there's feasibility there, we will create implementation plans for LOTS to be able to operate them. We also want to feed into ongoing efforts in the communities such as housing or economic development to make sure we're complementing things like that the best we can for a stronger transportation system that helps out other systems in the community."

The eight-month study will be wrapped up in August and a final report will be made. There will be more opportunities for the community to provide input. In June, another community presentation will likely be held that will include draft routes and schedules. Campoll said RLS & Associates is pleased with the turnout so far for the survey.

LOTS currently provides an advanced reservation-based, shared-ride public transportation system, operating Monday-Friday 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The in-town fare is $2 ($1 for seniors, veterans and those with disabilities). The out-of-town fee is capped at $10 or $5 for the discounted categories. 

"Getting into the fixed-route service would be totally new for LOTS," Campoll said. "But we think it would be a good complement to what it does today."

The public meeting covered where bus stops could potentially be located, how many routes there would be, what times the routes would take place, and what the cost would be, if there is a cost at all. Fixed bus routes are required to be ADA-compliant.

Potential stops discussed at the meeting included Walmart, ALDI, Sinnissippi Center, the downtown area, the truck stops, industrial job centers, Rochelle Community Hospital, Little Hubs Learning Center, and The REC Center. Bus stops would be new to Rochelle, which has not had a fixed bus route in town in the past.

If there were to be two routes, a potential location for a route transfer point discussed Wednesday was the Ogle County building on Lincoln Highway downtown.

"There are a lot of decisions to make," Campoll said. "And we're just trying to get input from the community on all of these decisions and make sure we're making the right decisions for Rochelle."

The potential cost of using the bus route was discussed by Campoll, attendees and representatives of LOTS. Potential methods talked about included $1-2 per ride, offering bus passes, or making the service completely free.

"Usually fares in public transit in a rural setting cover at most five percent of the budget," Campoll said. "Charging fares wouldn't really impact the bottom line a whole lot. There are advantages and disadvantages to making it free."