The All-America City Is One Step Closer To Getting The Wheels Rolling On New Transit System

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI)-  The All-America city is one step closer to rolling out a new transportation system.

“It’s always nice when you can take a plan and put it into action,” said Don Lewis, Tupelo’s Chief Operations Officer.

Lewis said implementing a transit system has been a big need for Tupelo for the last several years.

“It’s exciting to get things going but it’s also a pilot program,” Lewis expressed. “You want to get it right and that’s the feeling, we got to get it right because in a pilot program the proof is in the results.”

To help ensure the program’s success, the Tupelo Transit Commission called a public meeting on Tuesday to iron out key details including finalizing the bus routes.

“The routes will always be somewhat flexible,” said Lewis. “There’s three different routes that will run throughout the city that will cover the North, South, East, and West.”

The three routes are the Yellow, Green, and Blue routes.

They’ll stop at various places all over town including Tupelo’s ICC campus, grocery stores, and the hospital.

The new system will also have a catchy name that reflects the attitude of the All-America city.

“The board agreed on calling it “Tupelo Spirit” following with the theme of Tupelo with a very innovative thinking ahead, trying to come up with creative ideas,” Lewis explained. “What will happen now is that the recommendation has been made for the council to officially adopt the name, so it will go on the agenda next week for official adoption.”

The board will meet with a consulting group next week to talk about marketing the new transit system.

Service is expected to begin on September 1st and will run through September 30th of 2019.