Council members, state representatives, Shreveport and Bossier mayors and community supporters gathered for the groundbreaking for the new SporTran location Dec. 18 at 1237 Murphy St. in Shreveport.

The new facility promises to make SporTran one of the most passenger-friendly public transportation systems in the county.

“I think this is something that is going to set Shreveport apart from the other cities our size,” Rod Richardson, city of Shreveport’s director of communications, said.

Former Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover said the new SporTran facility is the product of a collaborative effort that started about 10 years ago and will be up and running in 2016.

“We are now here today to set about creating, building and constructing an intermobile facility for Shreveport,” Glover said, “that will free up that space on Crockett and Edwards. It will become a piece to the puzzle to make downtown Shreveport better and will also relocate the Greyhound station that has been in the minds of many that it should be located someplace else.”

Glover said the facility will give residents the opportunity to seek alternate forms of transportation in the city.

According to a press release, the new terminal will provide benefits to customers, including, convenient connections to other transportation services like Greyhound, Mega Bus and taxis, technology enhancements such as real-time bus arrival signs at each bay; ability to pay using debit and credit cards; bus pass vending machines and a new downtown circulator service that will provide rides to various destinations such as the Red River District, El Dorado and Sam’s Town.

“We’re excited about this opportunity to expand and improve our service and we’re even more confident because we’ve already seen how successful this model has been in places like Little Rock and Boise,’’ SporTran General Manager Dinero Washington said.

Councilman Jeff Everson said this is a step in the right direction for the future of Shreveport.

“This is going to provide options for people to get around our city so that we don’t have to have a car to interact with all the great things that Shreveport and the Northwest Louisiana community has to offer,” Everson said. “It will cut down on bus times and commute times. That will help a lot of our workers who are transportation dependent. It’s going to also connect the opportunities for interconnection bike paths – something that will help us to promote health and better environmental practices in our community.”

Everson said it is exciting to see the potential that this brings to the city.

In addition to the intermodal terminal, SporTran is also launching an automated vehicle locating system to provide accurate predictions for arrival times to customers both pre-trip and en route. The mobile app will be available in early 2015, but the service should be available online and via text messaging even sooner.

For more information, go to www.sportran.org.