Like many other businesses displaced by the January 2017 tornado that hit east Hattiesburg and Petal, Hub City Transit found itself without a home after the EF3 storm destroyed its location on South Tipton Street.
But a new $1.89 million building for Hattiesburg’s public transportation system – which has operated out of a rented building on West Pine Street since April 2017 – is on its way, with completion of the facility expected late this month or early next month at the original site.
“It’ll be great when we get back in our own facility; it’s always great when you can use your own facility instead of someone else’s on a temporary basis,” said Andrew Ellard, director of Hattiesburg’s Urban Development Department. “To be honest, our (temporary) location has not been a detriment to us.
“I think just the impact of the tornado itself was certainly a huge hurdle that the previous administration had to work through, and they did well to give us a temporary facility. But we’re excited to get into our own facility.”
The new facility will offer more indoor space than the previous building, giving staff more room for bus repair and maintenance.
“Just the fact that it’s a new building, that kind of creates an opportunity for us to do some things we didn’t have before,” Ellard said. “We’ll have a nicer locker space for our drivers – these folks spend a large portion of their day in the bus, so we kind of create a little bit of ‘home away from home’ for them in the office, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to be able to do that.”
After the tornado hit, Hub City Transit was assisted by a handful of regional organizations, including Coast Transit Authority in Gulfport, with maintaining its routes and getting set up in the temporary building.
“Coast Transit and some others were very generous to the city of Hattiesburg to help us get through that, with some Authority buses and things like that,” Ellard said. “So we had the opportunity to get prepared and get the facility up and going.”
Hub City Transit offers seven fixed routes, in addition to its para-transit service. According to numbers from the Urban Development Department, the company conducted 14,893 rides in November and 6,751 in December. December numbers are lower because of the holidays and both local universities – The University of Southern Mississippi and William Carey University – were on break.
Last summer, Hub City Transit offered two new routes – Gold and Green – and added several transfer station, bringing the total number of stations to 15. A map of routes can be found at www.hattiesburgms.com.
“Everything in (the new facility) is going to be brand-new,” Hattiesburg City Council President Carter Carroll said. “It’s good that the building is being erected and is being built back in its original location. I think everybody will prosper from that.”
