Getting Around - 2 new bus transfer sites proposed

Making it easier for passengers to make their bus connections is the goal of two transfer centers that Metro Area Transit wants to build.

One of the centers would be near Benson Park. The site is behind the Baker's Supermarket on 72nd Street between Ames and Military Avenues.

The other is northwest of Westroads Mall parking lot at 102nd and Nicholas Streets.

MAT hopes to start construction of the new centers in the spring and possibly open them by early summer of 2007.

Curt Simon, MAT executive director, said the transfer centers will be an important convenience for riders.

Instead of making transfers at street corners, riders on key routes will have a central location to make their connection, he said.

Riders using the transfer centers will be able to make connections to such destinations as downtown, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Westroads Mall, Crossroads Mall and other shopping centers.

The Omaha City Council is scheduled to vote today on a 20-year lease of city property for the Benson Park center. Council action on a lease for the center near Westroads is scheduled for Nov. 21. The city, which owns most of the property, is leasing both parcels to MAT at no cost.

The $1.5 million Benson Park transfer center would be 6,500 square feet, including an enclosed waiting area and a covered boarding area.

Routes that would be served by the center include 18, 14, 8 and 5.

Janet Wetovick-Bily, president of the Benson Business Association, said the transfer center will give the Benson area a boost.

"We are always looking for ways to bring new customers to Benson," she said.

The $1 million center near Westroads Mall would be 9,000 square feet, including an enclosed waiting area and a covered boarding area.

Routes the center would serve include 22, 14, 5, 4 and 2.

MAT has not decided whether the waiting areas for either center will be heated and air-conditioned.

Federal funds would cover 80 percent of the cost of the two centers, and MAT funds would cover the rest.

Neither center would replace a transfer center that MAT wants to build near Crossroads Mall.

Earlier this year, MAT lost its transfer center at Crossroads when the mall did not renew MAT's lease.

MAT is continuing to look for a permanent transfer site near Crossroads.

MAT already has an enclosed transfer center near 30th Street and Ames Avenue and one under construction at Metropolitan Community College's south Omaha campus.

Two other transfer sites, one along 16th Street downtown and the other at 42nd and Douglas Streets, have bus shelters.