The Newsletter of the Wyoming Public Transit Association
Good Things Happening at Cheyenne Transit
Joe Dougherty, Director of Transit
     Bus Storage Facility: After a lot of years and effort, we are finally moving forward on our bus storage facility and hope to build in late 2004 or early 2005, thanks to help from WYDOT and FTA.
     Downtown Development: We are hoping to go ahead with our plans to place another trolley into the downtown area and have asked for some help from the State Loan and Investment Board, using Transportation Enterprise Funds to help with this economic development effort.
     Also, with the assistance of WYDOT and participation from the downtown merchants, we hope to put a 1930s style, low-floor bus on our Downtown Shuttle route, soon. This peak demand service has proven to be a valuable asset in providing transportation to assist with ongoing downtown revitalization efforts. Cheyenne Transit’s transfer facility and ticket office will soon move to the new downtown parking structure in June, making it a truly intermodal facility (transit, auto, and some bicycle).
     Lunchtime Legislative Shuttle: With a little help from WYDOT, the Cheyenne Transit Program is going to run an 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. “Wyoming Transit Special” shuttle, which will take legislators, lobbyists, and members of the general public to lunch and back. Thanks to WYDOT, the shuttle will be free of charge, running in the downtown area every weekday of the 2004 Legislative Session. Please remember to remind your legislators and friends to use this service that demonstrates “Wyoming Public Transit will get you there!”
Cheyenne’s newly renovated Depot and Depot Plaza will now serve as a base for growing, tourism activity.
A Transit Tale
Goshen Area Transit System
Jeri A. Bottenfield, Director
     Once upon a time… I looked out my office window at the church building across the street and dreamed that I owned the land and had a building there to house our transit vehicles. Well, dreams do come true!
     When our Senators in Washington, D.C. got funds earmarked for capital projects in Wyoming, I was one of the first to secure money to build a garage. Getting the money committed was the easiest thing to do in this whole project.
     Meetings were held with our WYDOT friends, Rich Douglass and John Black, who handed me an application the agency needed to complete. I paled when I first saw the application that was going to be my responsibility to get filled out properly. What did I know about “Zoning, Traffic Impacts (in Torrington?), CO Hot Spots, Historic Resources, Noise, Vibration (for heaven’s sake), Hazardous Materials, Community Disruption, Wetlands, Floodplain Impacts, Impacts of Water Quality (on the Platte River?), Impacts on Ecologically Sensitive Areas and Endangered Species (I hoped that no one remembered that Preble Mouse?), Impacts on Safety and Security, and Impacts Caused by Construction.” I felt faint.
     I started to panic as I approached the local person who I thought would help me answer these questions. One person could answer some questions and another person could answer some questions, but not one person could answer all the questions that needed to be answered. I was also trying to get an appraisal, plan a budget, project time lines, get the property surveyed and get a site plan, work with church folks on the purchase of the property, meet with the building inspector, have a Christmas vacation (2001), and gear up for a legislative attempt (#1) for money for the senior centers. I was definitely a damsel in distress! Finally, a man on a white horse—Steve Kurtz—took the information that I had received and got it into a format that was usable.
     Once the completed application was submitted in July 2002, that didn’t necessarily mean that the hard work was done. Then decisions needed to be made about securing a contractor to remodel the existing building. Contractors looked at the project and shook their heads. No way could the project be done with
Continued on Page 4...
    Wyoming Transit Express 3 February 2004