BY JERRIE WHITELEY

HERALD DEMOCRAT

Using TAPS to get to class or to go shopping will be much easier this Fall thanks to cooperation between a number of area agencies and businesses.

Texoma Area Paratransit System will launch its first fixed bus routes on Aug. 24 with ceremonies at 11 a.m. at Austin College Wright Campus Center and 1 p.m. at Grayson College Campus Center.

While the routes are designed to make getting to class and shopping easier for college students, the service will be available for all to use. The service will be free to college students with the use of their college identification and will start out free to all who want to use it. There will eventually be a nominal fee for non-college students to use the service.

Two separate loops - named the Roo Route and the Viking Route - will serve their respective campuses and intersect at Sherman Town Center.

"This project is a great example of collaboration between our colleges, cities, Texoma Council of Governments, TxDOT and TAPS to enhance transportation service for area students and the surrounding neighborhoods," said Brad Underwood, TAPS general manager. "Local bus service is an old idea whose time has come again."

Planning for the Roo Route began after TCOG secured a state transportation grant in summer 2008 to fund a demonstration project for enhanced public transportation in the area.

Nathan Withers, a 2008 AC graduate, began working on the project as a student intern at TCOG. He helped to coordinate the project between TxDOT, TCOG, TAPS, Town Center businesses and Austin College from the initial grant application to surveys and focus groups conducted by AC professors, and the various stages leading up to the launch.

Austin College was a logical starting point to provide service.

"Timing couldn't be better with the pending inauguration of our new president, Marjorie Hass, and record enrollment for incoming freshman, many without their own cars on campus," said Tim Millerick, vice president of student affairs at AC. "The Roo Route will be a visible commitment from Austin College to leading community change toward efficient local transportation."

Grayson College officials eagerly jumped on board the plan to offer regular transportation for area students who travel to the school from three counties.

Wendell Williams, vice president for students, and GCC President Alan Scheibmeir met with Underwood soon after he assumed his new position at TAPS. As they envisioned a partnership leveraging college funds through use of TAPS services, the Viking Route grew into a strategic extension to Cooke and Fannin counties with service starting in the morning to help students get to classes. "We want to do everything we can to help our students be successful and that includes getting to class on time -- which is a challenge without dependable transportation," Williams said.

The Viking Route will collect students from apartment complexes early in the morning and offer trips to shopping areas in the afternoon and evening. "This is a win, win, win," said Scheibmeir, "for our students, for the college, and for TAPS and that's what community colleges are all about."

Underwood has lauded his staff for preparing for this historic event in such a short time, as they designed custom bus wraps and special uniforms for each unique route, hired drivers and purchased buses.

The official Roo Route will start at Zauk Circle, pick up at Roo Suites, stop at Glory to God Restaurant, Kroger, and Hasting's, then head to Sherman Town Center with stops at Panera Bread, Chipotle, Best Buy, Target, Cinemark, Books-a-Million and Wal-Mart. Regular service for the route will begin at 4 p.m. six days a week and continue until midnight.

On the reverse route, after leaving Town Center, the bus will cross over to Loy Lake and stop at Academy, Olive Garden and return to Hasting's, Kroger and along Broughton Street to campus.

The Viking route will start at 7 a.m. with pick ups in Van Alstyne, Gainesville, and Bonham and apartments around Sherman. Becky Woodson, chief operations officer at TAPS, said the pickups in Sherman and Van Alstyne will be scheduled stops while those in Bonham and Gainesville will be done on an "as needed" basis. "If they call us and let us know when they need to get here we will work them in," she said. Stops in Van Alstyne will include the Lone Star Food Store, starting at 7:40 a.m., and South Grayson Campus, starting at 8:15 a.m. The route will continue to run until midnight six nights a week. On Saturday the route will start at noon and run till midnight.

Plans are for the routes to be on campus on the hour and intersect at Best Buy on the half hour so that riders can access either route.

TAPS buses will be equipped with pull strings to alert drivers to stops and will accommodate riders along the route when hailing the bus as long as the location is safe for a stop. The city of Sherman will be working with TAPS to install official bus stop signs.

More information about the fixed route service can be found at www.tapsbus.com.