It’s been a decade since Wheatland Express carried riders between Pullman and Moscow, but local city, university and transit officials say — at the very least — conversations about reestablishing an intercity transit service should be started.

The Moscow Transportation Commission formed a subcommittee on the subject and met Tuesday for the first time. It plans to reach out to officials from Moscow, Pullman, the University of Idaho, Washington State University, Pullman Regional Hospital, Gritman Medical Center, the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport and major employers, like Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and Emsi, to gauge their interest in a bus route between the two cities and whether they would be interested in funding the service.

Rebecca Couch, director at UI Parking and Transportation Services, said at Tuesday’s meeting that UI students frequently ask how to get to Pullman and she and other university officials suggest carpooling to the students. She said some longtime UI faculty members say the Pullman-Moscow shuttle should return.

Mary DuPree, Moscow Transportation Commission member, said that transportation “at some level” is needed between the two cities.

Gina Taruscio, Moscow city councilor and council liaison to the Transportation Commission, said determining who would use the service — students, work commuters and/or others — would dictate the bus route and frequency.

“There’s a lot of questions I still think need to be answered to make decisions, but on the surface, I love the idea,” Taruscio told the Daily News.

Identifying funding appeared to be the major challenge for officials.

“If the money was there, boy I’d like to see it personally,” Moscow’s SMART Transit Executive Director Ben Aiman said.

John Shaheen, director at WSU Transportation Services, said the route is needed and will eventually happen.

“The spirit is willing but the pocketbook is weak when it comes right down to funding a self-supported program,” Shaheen said, noting many people would be interested in using a publicly-funded system.

WSU and UI split funding during the Wheatland Express days.

In 2011, the cost to extend the Wheatland Express contract would have exceeded $150,000, according to information from the UI. At that time, the estimated average ridership was around 150 people per day and the average per trip cost was $6. Agreement to extend the contract would have far exceeded that per trip rate, driving WSU and UI to discontinue the service.

Pullman Transit Manager Wayne Thompson said the “elephant in the room” is whether the Pullman City Council would want to support a service that takes people out of town to shop in Moscow.

“I think that’s going to be an interesting city council discussion if we get to that point,” Thompson said.

Thompson and Aiman said providing transportation service to the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport is a larger priority.

“I would say the Moscow-Pullman connection is probably number two or three on our list of projects to seriously look at, but the airport has to come first,” Thompson said.