Judd sends in this picture from Church Street in Decatur yesterday afternoon and wonders if its a “glimpse of the future”.

Asst. Decatur City Manager Lyn Menne writes in the the April Decatur Focus…

During the strategic planning meetings, we heard a number of suggestions about creating a downtown shuttle service. We are exploring options for pursuing this suggestion in the downtown business district with a possible link to the Oakhurst business district. We know the success of a shuttle depends on short wait times, reliability and proper coverage area so we may need to start with a smaller targeted area and then expand. Initially we are considering small, expanded passenger-size electric golf cart vehicles as a cost-effective option. We would love to hear your ideas about days and hours of service and activity centers that should be served first.

Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee to use a shuttle service or should it be free? We plan to post a survey covering these questions on Open City Hall on the city’s website. However, we’d love to hear from you as we continue to look at ways to move forward with this suggestion. You can send your thoughts to lyn.menne@decaturga.com.

The City of Decatur will hold another Strategic Plan Open House this coming Monday, January 31st from 6p-9p at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, where the coveted “Strategic Plan Project List” (or SPPO as no one tends to call it) will finally be unveiled to its adoring public.

As a tease for the upcoming event, the official Strategic Plan website “Decatur Next” reveals that a “circulator
shuttle”, which would transport residents between downtown, Oakhurst Village and East Decatur Station, is just one item that came out of the resident round-tables that made the list.  (The site is mum on any other projects that made the cut, hoping the anticipation will get you in the door.)

What does making the “Project List” mean?  From Decatur Next…

Actually, a lot. The adopted plan defines the focus of city leadership and staff for the next ten years, and sets out the areas where our money will be directed.

Inclusion on the list doesn’t guarantee the shuttle, or anything else, will come to fruition but it does ensure attention and resources. That means looking at the various ways such a system could be approached, who could run it, and how much the various scenarios would cost. Then, a decision can be levied one way or another based on the merits.

Shuttle Example pics ripped from DecaturNext

The notes from the city’s first Community Academy, entitled “Going Mobile”, are now online along with the video above, sharing resident reactions.

Though the document doesn’t indicate any sort of decided upon resolution between pedestrians, bikers and drivers, the tilt of the 13 pages of suggestions leans decidedly towards the foot-powered modes of transportation over the gas-powered ones.  In fact, aside from suggestions of free downtown parking for residents and concerns about the Church street road diet, I really didn’t see much that promoted greater individual car use.

And while many resident suggestions offered at the meeting have already been written down in the city’s community transportation plan (indicated in the notes with an *) there was one that permeated many of the sections of discussion at the meeting, which hasn’t gotten much air-time yet:  a Decatur shuttle service.

Here a sampling of the brainstorming bullets that specifically reference a “shuttle”:

Read the rest of this entry »