Four miles.

It might seem like nothing to someone driving a car.

But to someone carrying groceries or a baby, it is a seemingly endless stretch.

Collier and Lee counties’ separate transit systems both end just shy of the county line, leaving residents and visitors to bridge the four-mile gap by finding private transportation or hoofing it.

Officials in both counties have been talking for years about providing a link between the LeeTran and Collier Area Transit systems, but statewide budget crunches may place yet another roadblock in the way of that vision.

Together, the counties have a combined $1 million in grants to link the two systems, but the logistics have yet to be worked out.

Officials on both sides of the county line agree it will be necessary to pool the money to allow one transportation system to run the route, conduct the marketing and oversee upkeep.

"We’re waiting to hear from Lee because they’re trying to work through what they want to do," said Diane Flagg, alternative transportation modes director for Collier County government. "Personally, I don’t care one way or another whether Lee wants to run it or Collier wants to run it."

Collier County’s Metropolitan Planning Organization at its May 9 meeting tentatively approved spending $220,000 that would go toward the purchase of a bus for the route, pending the award of the state grant that would make up the difference to purchase a $350,000 bus.

At the time, discussion revolved around the feasibility of the plan, particularly as the city of Bonita Springs threatened to cut the $78,000 it contributes to LeeTran to run Lee County’s southernmost route through Bonita Springs.

The funding from Bonita is intact for now — at least until the end of the current fiscal year in September — but remains an open target by the Bonita Springs City Council.

"There are a lot of people out there that are not fans of mass transit," Bonita Springs Mayor Ben Nelson said. "But, the ability to have a really good interconnected transit system is at our fingertips."

When he took office in April, Nelson became the swing vote that secured the short-term future of the imperiled Route 150 through Bonita Springs, helping switch the 4-3 split to one that favored keeping the route’s funding through September.

However, LeeTran Marketing Manager Joann Haley said the worst-case scenario funding model calls for Route 150, as well as the Bonita Beach trolley, to be eliminated by the county next year. That would leave an even larger gap of 9 miles between the northernmost Collier Area Transit stop and the end of the line for LeeTran at Coconut Point mall, between Estero and Bonita Springs.

Nelson said that, in spite of the unpopularity of Route 150 among some council members and taxpayers, he believes it could become more profitable if riders could use it to connect to Collier County’s system.

"People do not want to walk two miles to get to a bus," Nelson said. "It’s got to come to where they are and go to where they want to be. ... If we get the kind of ridership we do by being connected to northern Lee, how much more ridership will we get by being connected to southern Collier?"

Upon its creation seven years ago, Collier Area Transit had a route running up U.S. 41 into Bonita Springs, Flagg said.

"The first and only route that initially started and was discontinued was the route that connected Lee and Collier counties," Flagg said. "Since 2001, there’s been significant development along the 41 corridor, and Bonita has really come into its own."

But some officials who admit the necessity of connecting the two systems say now is simply not the time.

"As much as I would like to provide this service, my recommendation would be that we’re not in a position to expand services right now and take on an added burden," Collier Transportation Director Norm Feder told Collier’s MPO board May 9. "Right now, with the available dollars, we’re not going to recommend that we proceed forward on this service expansion."

Feder’s comments came just after MPO Principal Planner Lorraine Lantz presented the planning staff’s recommendation that the board approve the $220,000 allocation from the Congestion Management System. The system annually receives $500,000 in federal allocations to run programs that will reduce traffic on roadways without adding additional lanes.

"Beyond the gas prices, the more convenient you make transit to ride, the less people there are going to be on the highways," Flagg said. "You will never build yourself out of congestion by adding more lane miles."

Gary Eidson, president of the Citizens Transportation Coalition of Collier, said the plan sounds good in theory, but there should be surveys to determine the necessity of connecting the two systems before that occurs.

"My feeling would be that anything we can do to reduce traffic on I-75 — thereby reducing the need to expand I-75 — is in the best interest in the people of the two counties," Eidson said.

The proposed route, Flagg said, would run from North Naples Hospital, just north of Immokalee Road, up U.S. 41 to Coconut Point.

In estimates submitted as part of the grant request to the Florida Department of Transportation, Haley said LeeTran estimated the costs for running a Lee-Collier transit connection for three years would be $2,250,000. That includes $700,000 for two buses, $1 million for operations and the rest for amenities, signs and marketing.

"There’s been a lot of effort to go ahead and make this the system that has been envisioned for many years with connectivity," Nelson said. "We’ve all got that connection socially and financially already."

Haley acknowledged that the push to connect Lee and Collier physically via mass transit will be an uphill battle in an economic climate where existing bus routes are in jeopardy.

"There are so many needs that are being juggled right now that I think it’s something that people are going to have to speak up in order for it to happen," Haley said. "It’s not going to be perceived as one of the higher priority needs unless we identify that people are calling for it and would support more investment in transit."