Five of the six mini-buses to be used in the city’s transit system arrived by police escort Friday, slightly behind schedule but ahead of the system’s anticipated launch next month.

Manufactured by Starcraft Bus of Birmingham, Ala., each bus is a Ford E-450 with room for 16 passengers on bucket seats, a wheelchair lift that can accommodate two wheelchairs and a bicycle rack with room for two attached to the front fender. The vehicles’ arrival was delayed for several weeks by problems installing the bike racks, said Wayne Mansfield of the city’s planning department.

The five buses that rolled into town Friday were stored in the city shop at the corner of China and Walnut streets. One bus remained in a repair shop in Alabama due to a recall by Ford Motor Company, said B. Chuck Harvill, commercial sales manager for Transportation South Bus Sales of Pelham, Ala., the vendor from which the buses were purchased.

Mansfield said the system, dubbed NRoute, will hit the streets sometime in June, when drivers currently going through training become familiar with the radio system and the routes and are certified by the Mississippi Department of Transportation .

The plan for the NRoute system is to have it exist as an entity separate from city government, much like transit authorities in other, larger cities, Mansfield said. That split is not expected until later this year at the earliest, he said.

Four full-time and four part-time drivers will be selected from the 20 applications that have been taken, said NRoute Director Evelyn Bumpers.

The city’s last effort to institute a transit system, a network of downtown trolleys planned during the Joe Loviza administration, failed to catch on 11 years ago. A bus system begun in the 1950s lasted several years, until it ceased operation in the 1960s.

The new plan is to operate the buses in 40-minute intervals from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. to more than a dozen stops, some of which are yet to be determined, said Bumpers.

Fare per trip will be $1.50 for regular routes and $3 for passengers who want to arrange non-scheduled routes. That revenue will cover about 10 percent of the operating cost, with most funding for the system coming from federal and state grants, city revenue, the Warren County Board of Supervisors and donations from area businesses.

A $488,000 federal grant covered purchase of the buses.

The city amended its budget in April, depositing $181,550 into the bus fund and authorizing the spending of $237,790 to get the system running. The remaining $250,000 went into the general fund to be apportioned for other projects.

The city decided to create the system after a Chamber of Commerce study showed a demand, especially among older people. Mayor Laurence Leyens said spiking fuel prices will also make the system helpful for workplace commutes.

Among the spots that have been initially set for pick-up are: