Redmond City Council members received a visit from 10 people from the Redmond Senior Center with transportation on their minds at Tuesday night’s meeting.

With senior center advisory committee members Roger Trepanier and Paul Lester taking the roles as spokesman at the podium, they presented a formal resolution asking the city to support a downtown shuttle bus service that would benefit seniors and other residents.

According to their plan, the route would start and end at the Redmond Senior Center and visit all the major Redmond destinations, including shopping areas, hospitals and parks. Hours could be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and cost $2 a day or $20 per month, Lester told council. Two buses running continuously could carry 14 people at a time.

“We want Redmond to be the instigator and start-up of this (circuitous) system,” Lester said. “We want this to be a convenient, safe and easy transportation that provides access not only for seniors but all the other citizens.” He added that the buses could also drop students off at school and cut down on vehicle drive time and reduce air pollution.

The shuttle plan has been in the works for four years, Lester said, noting that a 2009 Redmond Parks and Recreation Department and senior center advisory committee study noted that transportation for seniors was the No. 1 concern.

Seniors feel King County Metro’s current local bus service is inadequate due to fixed routes, limited destinations and complex schedules, according to their proposal. Also, the two major Metro routes — 221 and 248 — serving downtown are presently at risk for service reductions.

“That exacerbates the situation,” said Trepanier, who told council that the advisory committee would like to see their shuttle proposal added to the city’s Transportation Master Plan (TMP) update.

“I think your proposal is very intriguing and I’m going to ask the mayor and staff if we could put this on our issues table for our TMP conversations,” said council member Kim Allen after the seniors’ 20-minute presentation. Council member Hank Margeson noted that he wants council to discuss the seniors’ proposal further, as well.

Sandy Marion, co-chair of the advisory committee, said that she felt their council-meeting appearance went well. She added that the council seemed receptive to their proposal and “we feel that was a positive move” in wanting to add the shuttle plan to the council’s study sessions.