By ROD ROSE, Assistant Managing Editor

Lebanon -- Shuttling between Zionsville and Lebanon, with a stop in Whitestown, five days a week is a van that could have a significant impact whether there is a future for public transit in Boone County.

The van, co-owned by Boone County Senior Services, Inc. and Boone County Arc Rehabilitation Services, Inc., is the vehicle of a pilot program that is assessing transit needs.

"The purpose of the pilot program," said BCSSI Executive Director Sue Ritz, "is to collaborate with other agencies to provide transportation at affordable rates while being cost effective for the agencies involved."

The project began in March, with one person going to Arc, Ritz said. "Then we worked out this deal with this route, taking some of the people using Arc programs (and) combining it (with other needs) to make it more cost effective."

Arc Executive Director Brent Cardin said the pilot program will be part of a transit feasibility study being prepared by RLS Associates, a consulting firm in Dayton, Ohio.

"It looks at traffic patterns, as far as the way people use it to get to work and home," Cardin said. "It looks at the needs based upon the different communities." It will also explore transit needs of other communities similar to Lebanon, Zionsville and other areas of Boone County.

"We are talking about existing transit services," Cardin said. "They are encouraging us not to reinvent the wheel and start a brand new transportation system."

There are about 12 people on the route, Cardin said. "Some of those folks go to different jobs in the community; some come to our jobs at Arc Rehab."

Cardin said the transit study committee hopes to meet with the Boone County Commissioners in February or March. "Basically, it's an informational meeting," he said. "State funds for these types of projects have been frozen."

Although Cardin said he hoped that if the state's economy -- and tax revenues -- ever were to allow transit funds to be released, "that we'd be first in line."

Ritz said the pilot program is funded through a United Way of Central Indiana grant, with a contract that runs through June 30. "We don't know whether it is going to end or not," Ritz said.

"We don't even really know how much we are going to receive; it just depends on the usage."