The Downtown Coordinating Committee met Thursday night to discuss upcoming changes on State Street and the downtown area.

Catherine Debo, representative for the Madison Metro downtown bus service, discussed a newly-revised bus scheduling.

City Council President Mike Verveer and the committee members also discussed the possibility of converting some of the area one-way streets into two-way streets.

Due to concerns about the amount of buses lining up along State Street during the day, the Madison Metro system is implementing a new scheduling system.

According to Debo, the schedule will allow for buses to leave at different times in order to prevent them from waiting in front of retail stores and restaurants.

“It frees up bus capacity,” she said. “You don’t need two buses at a time bunching together.”

Under the new scheduling plan, buses will leave the transfer points either on the hour or every half hour. This does not include buses leaving from the East transfer point, which will leave every 15 minutes.

Verveer said the amount of buses waiting at street lights crowds the outdoor seating of many restaurants during peak hours.

Debo noted the new system should prevent more than two buses from lining up at any given moment, but since State Street is part of their major route to streets like Johnson and Gilman, it is still probable the buses will be more prevalent during peak hours.

Peak times are between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., as well as between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Other possible future improvements Debo mentioned include the installation of a prioritization system that would signal green lights to remain green longer so buses could get through State Street more efficiently. Although the plan has not been formally proposed, Debo and the other present committee members recognized the need for some sort of a solution to keep up with the increasing hustle of the city.

The committee also discussed the possibility of changing some current one-way streets, such as Johnson Street, into two-way streets in order to make travel through the city more convenient.

“Whenever a street gets constructed in my district I challenge [engineers] to make it a two-way,” Verveer said.

Team leader of the transportation section of the committee Bryant Smith said the primary concern of area engineers is to get the biggest number of cars through a street in the least amount of time.

“[One-ways] tend to be less pedestrian friendly and retail friendly than two-way streets,” committee member Mary Sollinger said.

Members also looked at the difficulty Madison-area visitors have in getting around the city. Potential students and shoppers deal with the numerous one-ways every day, a problem the committee hopes Mayor Dave Cieslewicz will address.

The committee will bring up issues concerning Madison roads to Cieslewicz later this month.