Evanston residents voiced their concerns about the city’s transportation problems, including an unreliable bus service and a lack of coordination between transit agencies, on Thursday night at the year’s second Sustainable Evanston forum.

About 75 people attended the event at Lake Street Church of Evanston, 607 Lake St., which was organized by Evanston’s Transportation Future. The forum was co-sponsored by more than 30 organizations, including Northwestern’s Students for Ecological and Environmental Development and the Evanston Chamber of Commerce.

“The purpose (of the forum) is to bring the community together to look for innovative transportation solutions in Evanston,” said Sharon Feigon, an associate member of the transportation group.

Alex Sproul, chairman of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce’s transportation committee, kicked off the event by describing the gradual decline of Evanston’s public transit system and the increase in automobile ownership.

“What we are setting out to do is to create a grassroots constituency to support constructive alternatives to the private auto in Evanston,” Sproul said.

Feigon discussed the problems the city currently faces, including the lack of coordination between transit agencies like the Chicago Transit Authority and Metra.

After Feigon spoke, the forum split into three “breakaway groups,” which each focused on specific aspects of Evanston’s transportation problems.

One group, led by transportation consultant Peter Nicholson, looked at ways to improve Evanston’s bus service.

“Who came here by bus?” Nicholson asked, to which only two of the 50 people in the group raised their hands.

He cited those figures as a display of the bus system’s ineffectiveness. According to Nicholson, only 11 percent of Evanston bus riders own cars, meaning that all others depend on the bus because they have no other alternative transportation mode.

Nicholson described the history of the Evanston bus system and the “classic transit death spiral” of declining ridership and service. He then compared Evanston to towns like Boulder, Colo., and West Lafayette, Ind., which have devised successful bus networks.

When Nicholson asked the audience about Evanston’s bus route 202, several audience members told stories of the line’s unreliability. One former passenger said one bus constantly spewed fumes and had a hole in its exterior.

Mary Kay Christopher, general manager of service planning with the Chicago Transit Authority, was expected to reveal proposed changes to the bus service at the forum but disappointed audience members when she announced she wouldn’t disclose the plan until March 12. She strongly encouraged community members to attend the meeting at the Evanston Civic Center.

Other breakaway groups talked about regional connections between Evanston and Chicago public transit, and innovative transportation programs like the I-GO Carsharing program, which allows residents who don’t own cars to pay a small fee and have access to automobiles.

This forum was the second in a planned series, which will deal with prominent local issues such as energy and housing.

Jackie Liebman, a member of SEED, said her interest in environmental issues attracted her to the forum. Because Liebman does not have a car on campus, she said she would benefit from improved public transit in Evanston.

“I find it extremely difficult to get around Evanston,” said Liebman, a Weinberg senior.