Existing bus routes could be increased

With an eye toward kick-starting a local public transit system, Mayor G.W. “Billy” Duke III said he will try to work out an agreement that would have city buses and vans augment an existing route through the city.

The pact would be with a company called Epic International Staffing, which has purchased Baldwin Rural Area Transportation System’s route through Gulf Shores and Orange Beach to give rides to the foreign student workers it brings to the beach during the summer. Essentially Epic paid the Transportation System up front to run a bus at the beach when a dearth of demand from other users threatened to make the route financially unfeasible, said Eglaide Seiber, who works for the staffing firm.

“I think many other companies have solved the problem of where to find the workers, and housing has become better with time, but we have issues with transportation,” Seiber said.

Existing bus routes could be increased