
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 30, 1991                   TAG: 9103300106
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SHUTTLE SCUTTLED UNTIL JUNE

A plan for downtown workers to park their cars at Roanoke Civic Center and ride shuttle buses to their offices has been delayed due to a lack of interest.

Fewer than 40 businesses have said their employees would used the service, which required at least 360 riders to be financially feasible, said Downtown Roanoke Inc., the program's sponsor. The operation was scheduled to start Monday.

However, several large employers are still studying the proposal to determine if their personnel want parking space, according to Amy Mason, spokeswoman for Downtown Roanoke.

As a result, she said, implementation of the shuttle bus plan has been delayed until June 1 when an attempt will be made again.

The apparent reason for the poor response, Mason said, is that many downtown workers want to use their cars at lunchtime.

The shuttle plan was arranged, she said, because a number of people asked the downtown promotional organization to address the reduction in downtown parking places because of several downtown construction projects. About 500 downtown parking spaces are being displaced by the construction of the Dominion Tower and its parking ramp, the Norfolk Southern office building, a Church Avenue parking garage and expansion of First Baptist Church and the Red Cross.

When the shuttle plan was announced in February, Downtown Roanoke executive director Kim Kimbrough said about one-third of the required number of 360 potential riders said they would use the bus. A monthly bus pass for the service would cost $17 but there would be no parking charge at the civic center. The temporary service was to cost $6,100 a month to operate.

The service was planned to meet a need for parking until the two new parking garages are completed. The Dominion Tower's new garage will have 800 spaces when it is completed this fall and the Church Avenue garage is to have 400 spaces when it opens next spring.

A similar shuttle bus operated from the civic center to downtown about five years ago but that service was abandoned for lack of sufficient use.

by CNB