A handful of residents challenged proposed changes to the Denton Connect bus routes during a public meeting at Texas Woman’s University Wednesday morning.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

Riders board Denton County Transportation Authority buses Wednesday in Denton. DCTA officials have proposed route changes that would allow riders to make bus transfers near the University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University.

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The proposed changes would eliminate some inefficiencies in the long loops around the city in exchange for more frequent and reliable passes through the city’s core, Denton County Transportation Authority planner Boris Palchik said.

“Our goal is to have a bus come by any stop at least [once] every 40 minutes,” Palchik said.

Resident Martha Cline cautioned that moving some bus stops may mean too long of a walk for some users. Because many riders are college students, she was concerned that planners would forget the needs of other riders.

“Try to remember that ‘just a couple of blocks’ to a young, healthy person is not a big deal,” Cline said. “It’s a long way if it’s 100 degrees or there’s a 30-mph north wind, or if you are carrying bags of groceries like a pack mule.”

Resident Virginia Leonard, who lives near TWU, agreed, saying that she was concerned about the elimination of bus routes along Elm and Oakland streets. As proposed, those would go away in favor of combined routes along Bell Avenue, but the walk could be too much to navigate for her or other riders in the area.

“There are all those apartments on Austin Street,” Leonard said. “We need more stops in there.”

The new routes would combine along Bell, as well as Oak and Hickory streets, and would allow riders to make route connections near TWU and the University of North Texas. Currently, riders can make connections for other routes only at Williams Square in downtown.

Unlike UNT, though, TWU is not served by a local shuttle. Palchik and fellow DCTA employee Kristina Brevard said they appreciated the residents’ feedback and would take another look at the area.

DCTA also proposes to eliminate Route 8, which loops around UNT in order to get riders to Williams Square. Instead, riders from the southwest part of town would use a UNT shuttle to get to the Hickory Street station.

DCTA riders are allowed to use the UNT shuttle buses, though that has been unclear not only to the riders but also to the drivers, Palchik said. After changes are made, DCTA plans to publish a single bus schedule with all the routes, instead of separating the schedule for UNT.

The hour-long meeting was the second of four — part of several efforts to get the public’s feedback on the proposed changes, Brevard said.

DCTA planned to begin circulating a one-page survey for riders on buses today. On Friday, DCTA employees will be at Williams Square from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., explaining the proposed changes to riders, with Spanish translation if needed, and getting feedback.

The next public meeting will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at South Branch Library, 3228 Teasley Lane.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .