The Columbia City Council is pondering whether the ability to surf the Web on city buses will entice more people to ride them.

At a meeting last night, council members decided that providing wireless Internet access on all city bus routes would be too expensive considering the tight budgets during the economic recession.

They didn't toss the idea out altogether, however, and council members directed city staff to look into the possibility of pilot routes and incentives for companies to provide the access. In December, the city began working with local Internet provider iZones to provide wireless access at Stephens Lake Park and Flat Branch Park in exchange for advertising.

According to the city's IT staff, it would cost $29,800 to outfit all city buses with wireless capability for the first year, an amount council members agreed was too expensive.

Council members said last night that providing wireless access on buses could attract new riders. Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe said she would be in favor of setting up a pilot project on a selected route or routes. She speculated that some people who might otherwise be open to trying public transit are turned off by the lost time on a bus route compared to driving to work.

"I don't want to sacrifice an extra half-hour to go to work" by taking the bus, "but if I had Wi-Fi, I could put that half-hour to good use," Hoppe said. "I would seriously consider it because it would be using time well for me, not losing it. That might be a big draw for people who want to use bus system."

To provide access for all public transit, a router would need to be installed on each of the 31 fixed route buses and nine Para Transit buses. The $200 routers would require $65 mounting kits and $40 per month for Internet service.

Third Ward Councilman Karl Skala voiced support for figuring out the costs for only selected routes and researching incentives, as did Mayor Darwin Hindman.

"We can explore possibility of putting it on a route and see it if increases ridership," Hindman said. "Maybe there is the potential that it will increase" ridership "on a particular route and pay for cost of doing it."

Though the council discussed adding wireless access to routes that serve student off-campus housing, some members pointed out that those students already have an incentive to ride the bus.

Justin McNutt, a network systems analyst for the University of Missouri, told the council that with the rise in popularity of cell phones that connect to the Internet, it's likely that people would use phones, not laptops, to access the Web on the bus.

"Handheld devices like iPhones - that's what I'm starting to see among both professionals and students," McNutt said. "You could use that to connect and do e-mails while riding about."

Reach Sara Semelka at (573) 815-1717 or ssemelka@columbiatribune.com

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