The city of Valparaiso is rolling forward with plans to send three coach buses from Valparaiso to the Chicago Loop every work day this fall.
The buses will have reclining seats, pull-down trays and facilities for plugging in laptop computers if all goes according to plan, said Stu Summers, executive director of the Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission.
Surveys soon will go out with municipal water bills to ask people if they would take the bus and where they would want to be picked up, among other questions.
The city has been advised on the project by McDonald Transit, of Nashville, Tenn., Summers said.
The city would contract with a bus company to provide the service. McDonald Transit estimated the service could be run for about $200,000 per year.
Fares could pay a good deal of that cost, Summers said. Those fares would be on a par with those charged by the South Shore Line commuter railroad.
Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas mentioned the bus plans at a presentation in Munster on Thursday, in which he and other elected officials voiced support for the extension of the South Shore to Valparaiso and Lowell.
He described the bus service as a way of "priming the pump" for the extension of commuter rail.
Summers agreed.
"This is a first step toward commuter rail," Summers said. "It's not in place of rail. But we would like to build a commuter mentality."
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