A proposed Durham Area Transit Authority service could help to improve relations between Duke and North Carolina Central University.
The DATA service, proposed last month at a Durham City Council meeting, would centrally operate on Main Street and serve as an east-west link between Duke, downtown Durham and NCCU, said DATA Transit Administrator Stephen Mancuso. The service would not go into effect until July 1, 2011 at the earliest, he said.
"We merely put this forward [to City Council] as an initiative for 2011, but the reason for doing it now is so that it can actually happen in two years," he said.
Mancuso added that DATA would purchase four new hybrid diesel-electric buses to provide the service at a cost of $4 million. The proposal suggests that 80 percent of the funding would come from federal and state sources and the remaining $800,000 would be provided by Durham's government, he said.
If the service is implemented, Mancuso said the annual operating costs would average to $1.136 million, adjusted for inflation. He added that Duke and NCCU may assist with the budget.
"The city and Duke have had a number of discussions about a number of city initiatives," said Mancuso. "We already operate a service with NCCU that they paid for, and it's possible that [the new service] could replace that."
But Chuck Catotti, director of Duke Parking and Transportation Services, said the University has not spoken with the City Council regarding the budget for the service. He confirmed speaking to Mancuso regarding service routes, but said no specific route has been decided upon.
Sophomore Andrew Brown, Duke Student Government vice president for Durham and regional affairs, said there have been preliminary talks between the University and City Council but added that due to budget constraints for both groups during the recession, the service may be delayed.
Brown and sophomore Will Passo, incoming vice president of Durham and regional affairs for DSG, said the service would do much to improve the relationship between Duke and NCCU. They added, however, that perhaps most students would opt to use the service to access downtown rather than NCCU.
Mancuso said he sees an demand for the proposed route and the possibility for economic stimulation through the service.
"It's not just the universities that would be served-there's a number of businesses and developments on Main Street," he said. "When we put a fixed system out there with a reasonable frequency of service and it appears to permanent in nature, then what you see is more development in the course it is served by."
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