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A proposed public transportation work group stalled in front of Oxford City Council on Tuesday, April 1, but may be back on the table within two weeks.

Members of City Council voted against approving the Oxford Bus Feasibility Work Group at its April 1 meeting, with several members arguing it could easily fit within the city's already established Parking and Transportation Board.

"I wish this would come back to me amended, so the objectivity is out of it," councilor Greig Rutherford said. "This resolution has this group in a box, but we need to get out of the box to solve these problems."

Council members voted 5-2 against the resolution to officially form the group, with only Mayor Prue Dana and councilor Doug Ross voting in favor of it.

"When I first became a member of this council I was told to dream," Ross said. "I don't see the big deal with dreaming about alternative forms of transportation."

The proposed group aimed to listen to concerns of area residents and business owners, investigate financial aspects of potential systems and assess the need for such a system in the area.

While it has not made official as of yet, the group has been meeting informally for several months to discuss the various aspects of public transportation. Dana said the group has already gotten a lot of feedback, particularly among low-income residents and area seniors who currently have trouble getting around town.

A resolution creating the group as a subcommittee of the Parking and Transportation Board will likely come before Council for its April 15 meeting, Law Director Steve McHugh said.

Several group members met with the League of Women Voters Tuesday, March 25, addressing concerns and gathering further input on the project. Tim McGowan, director of the Knolls of Oxford, joked to a somewhat small crowd about the irony of the low attendance.

"There's a real momentum with the committee and people are excited about it," he said. "I find it rather conspicuous that people could not get here."

McGowan said it has been increasingly difficult to coordinate transporting residents around town, likening them to prisoners in the community. He pointed toward successful public transportation systems in similarly-sized cities, indicating the task may not be as daunting as it initially seems.

"Other towns have done this and made it work," McGowan said. "Rather than reinvent the wheel, we'll study those situations and see how we can adapt them here."

Contact this reporter at (513) 523-4139, ext. 86102, or at rgauthier@coxohio.com.

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