‘Start small’ to meet county transportation needs, say organizers

Posted 7/12/16

“We think we start small and work toward whatever makes the most sense, said James Klessens, executive director for Forward Cody, who helped present the study to the Park County Commission last month.

“We will be making an outreach to the …

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‘Start small’ to meet county transportation needs, say organizers

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With a recently completed Park County transportation study in hand, the next step is to form a committee to sort through the information and begin exploring options for meeting transportation needs in the county.

“We think we start small and work toward whatever makes the most sense, said James Klessens, executive director for Forward Cody, who helped present the study to the Park County Commission last month.

“We will be making an outreach to the transportation steering committee to thank them for their time (with the study) and also to gauge their interest in continuing,” said Christine Bekes, executive director for Powell Economic Partnership. “We will also tap into additional community organizations that may want to come to the table in a little more engaged manner.”

The two economic development groups worked together to commission the study last year with help from other organizations.

Bekes said she expects the transportation advisory committee to begin work in August to examine the study and determine what direction it wants to go.

The study “has given us a pile of information to work from,” Klessens told county commissioners.

Frank Alvarado, owner of the Cody Shuttle, took a dim view of the prospects for public transportation services between Powell and Cody.

“It just seems that has been tried six times already, and six times it has failed,” he said during a telephone interview Thursday. “The college and private venture has tried it, and it doesn’t work.”

Bekes agreed. “Full-blown public transportation is not feasible at this point in time,” she said.

But, by design, public transportation is not the primary focus of the study, she added.

“The study pointed to the opportunities the community has; most are private or foundation, community driven or employer driven,” she said. “That could mean entrepreneurs, employers or nonprofits. That’s where I would say the low-hanging fruit is, the things that are actionable. ... It’s better to start with these small steps we can take.”

Some of the possible transportation options outlined in the study include the use of transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft, carpools, vanpools, volunteer driver programs, and expanding existing demand response transportation provided now by the Powell Senior Center and the Cody Council on Aging.

Bekes said she was at Powell City Hall recently, and someone had not paid their electric bill that month because they were paying for a car repair.

That is an example of the tough choices people have to make when they don’t have other transportation options, she said.

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