7-14-4401. Provision of bus service. Whenever a city or town is not being served by a bus company or operator operating on a regular schedule and under the jurisdiction of the public service commission or if such service is likely to be discontinued in the immediate future, the city or town council of the incorporated city or town:

(1) may contract an indebtedness of any such city or town upon the credit thereof by borrowing money or issuing bonds for the purchase, development, operation, or leasing of motorbuses and buslines for the transportation of passengers within the corporate limits of such cities and towns and to operate the same to any point or points beyond these limits not to exceed 8 miles measured along the route of the busline;

(2) shall have the power to enter into a contract or contracts or to enter into a lease or a lease and operating agreement with an independent carrier or independent carriers for the transportation of passengers by bus within the corporate limits of such city or town and to and from any point or points beyond said limits not to exceed 8 miles measured along the route of said busline or buslines.