GULFPORT - The Coast Transit Authority will launch a free shuttle service in downtown Gulfport today, which the agency hopes will reduce traffic and relieve a parking shortage in the central business district.

The new bus route coincides with the opening of CTA's $6.6 million park-and-ride center across from the federal courthouse on 15th Street.

For years, insufficient parking has stunted efforts to revitalize downtown Gulfport. The park-and-ride center is supposed to improve parking, but some merchants say the center is located too far from most businesses and shops to be effective.

A study presented to the City Council in 1999 identified land near 30th Avenue and 13th Street on the downtown's west side as the best location for the garage. The center was built on 15th Street to accommodate the federal courthouse, which opened in October.

Marvin Koury, whose family has leased nine storefronts downtown, said the unavailability of parking makes it difficult to lease his second-floor office space.

He believes the east side was a far more logical spot for the center because most downtown businesses are located there.

Koury, past president of the Gulfport Downtown Association, said getting people to park in the garage and take a shuttle across downtown requires a cultural shift that would take years to occur.

Cristina Switzer, owner of Salon Bleu on 26th Avenue, said her patrons often complain about the difficulty of a parking space near the salon.

She said the park-and-ride center should improve parking.

"I think it was kind of upsetting where (the center) was located, but it's going to be a good thing regardless," she said.

George Carbo, current president of the Gulfport Downtown Association, said reaction to the park-and-ride center among the group's membership is generally positive. He acknowledged there was a "strong desire" by many merchants to build the center on the west side, but said any additional parking downtown is a bonus.

Private enterprise also is working to solve downtown's parking woes.

Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. is building two parking lots on land it holds a lease on in the vicinity of 13th Street and U.S. 49.

Lenny Sawyer Jr., a Gulfport Realtor whose office is on 13th Street, is managing the property.

Sawyer said one lot will have 62 spaces and the other 200 spaces. He said the smaller lot will open in about two months, and the larger lot will be completed in three to four months.

Spaces in both lots will be leased at a monthly rate. Sawyer said 40 spaces already have been reserved in the smaller lot.

CTA has had less success so far leasing spaces in the park-and-ride center.

Courthouse employees were expected to be a significant portion of the parking center's business, but the court complex has enough on-site parking to satisfy its staff.

Kevin Coggin, director of CTA, said the agency is aggressively marketing the center to employees of downtown businesses and to people visiting the courthouse.

A flier advertising the center is being included in the courthouse's mailings to potential jurors. Mailings advertising the center also were sent to local businesses.

In order to generate revenue needed to make the center self-sustaining, CTA is trying to lease parking spaces to local law offices and businesses on a monthly basis.

Coggin said the agency has leased six spaces to law firms, but said he expects that number to rise as activity at the courthouse increases.