Two new surveys are available to community members who would like to be involved in selecting the location for a Downtown Transit Station.

Step 1 in the three-part process has been completed—a boundary of downtown has been agreed upon by the steering committee and approved by the City Commission.

Step 2 involves developing criteria to evaluate potential sites. Only sites within the selected Downtown Station boundary will be considered. The survey for Step 2 presents 14 site selection criteria such as walkability from the location, parking spaces gained or lost, impact to city parks, and more. Survey respondents are asked about each of the criteria and scoring methods. The survey closes on July 12 at noon.

Step 3 includes soliciting site ideas, then evaluating them against the criteria and choosing a final site for design and construction. The survey for Step 3 allows people to place pins on a map to suggest locations. The survey closes on August 15 at noon.

In addition to the two surveys, transit staff will be talking with community members via focus groups in the next few weeks. Anyone who would like to participate should send an email to info@lawrencetransit.org.

Following the close of both surveys, the steering committee will be scoring and ranking site ideas in August and September. The City Commission may be ready to vote on 3 to 5 sites for concept design in October.

Five bus routes will continue to serve Downtown Lawrence. The goal of a new Downtown Station is to improve comfort and convenience for bus riders, in order to encourage more transit ridership today and in the future. The main elements that have been identified to include in the site design for Downtown Station are:

• Driver restrooms
• Individual bus bays
• Sufficient seating and wind protection
• Next departure signs
• Weather protection canopies

Take the surveys here: https://lawrenceks.org/listens/surveys/. For more information, please see the Downtown Station Project Page.

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