The public is encouraged to attend a pair of meetings designed to give an update on the city’s proposed transit program as part of the ongoing Sedona in Motion transporta­tion plan.

An open house will be held on Tuesday, April 9, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Sedona Public Library’s community room to give input on potential transit service options in and around Sedona. The next day, April 10, the Sedona City Council will be given an update and a recap of the Tuesday meeting at 3 p.m. at city hall.

“It is so important to get resident feedback before final­izing the plan and working out the implementation details,” Assistant City Manager and Community Development Director Karen Osburn said. “This will be the last big oppor­tunity for the public to weigh in before this planning process concludes.”

After the Transportation Master Plan identified transit as a major strategy to pursue and as part of the SIM effort, the city hired LSC Transportation Consultants to develop an implementation plan of a Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon transit system for both residents and visitors.

Thus far, a transit needs assessment has been completed. This has included extensive public input through stake­holder focus groups, individual interviews, public meetings, resident, business and visitor surveys; visitor intercepts and

 a range of service options have been developed and narrowed, as wll.

Interviews with visitors were conducted last year and ranged from just a few minutes while people were on the move going hiking to more in-depth, incentivized interviews [$20 gift cards were given] in hotel lobbies. Some of the key findings from these interviews regarding if and how respondents might use a local transit service were:

• More than three-quarters of overnight visitors responded that they might use a shuttle for at least some trips if it existed, assuming it went where and when they needed it.
• Day visitors were less likely to respond that they would take a shuttle with the exception being those day visi­tors going hiking at West Fork, where a long wait for parking is common.
• Only about one in five of the overnight visitors interviewed at hotels and shopping locations had no interest in the shuttle, while approxi­mately a quarter of day visitors inter­viewed at trailheads responded that they wouldn’t take a shuttle.
• Overnight visitors saw the potential to use a shuttle for a variety of trip purposes, including accessing trailheads, going shopping and dining or drinking at night, while day visi­tors only saw a shuttle as a potential for linking a park and ride with trailheads.
• Most visitors were including hiking as a focus activity, but were flexible with planning when they might hike and what trails they may do — planning around parking and crowds seemed to be expected.
• Many visitors commented on parking and traffic frustrations they experienced while others weren’t bothered by lack of parking or congestion.

These service options are what the city seeks public input on and the options include preliminary analyses of who might use the transit system, what incentives/disincentives would be required to promote ridership, key origins and destinations, frequency of service and estimated costs.

Once input on the service options is received from residents and city council, the next steps include final­ization of a recommended service plan, identification of possible funding options and governance structure, development of a draft implemen­tation plan that will identify fare options, capital needs and operational requirements and development of a marketing plan.

For more information on the open house details, contact Lauren Browne, city of Sedona citizen engagement coordinator at 203-5068 or LBrowne @SedonaAZ.gov. To read more details about the progress of this project, visit www.sedonaAZ.gov/transit.

Ron Eland can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 122 or by email at reland@larsonnewspapers.com