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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Revamped bus service starts soon

Spokane Transit is preparing for its ultimate makeover next week, featuring new routes, increased frequency and better connections.

Just about everything but the drivers’ uniforms is getting an upgrade.

The overhaul is part of STA’s first major system changes in seven years. New routes and improved frequency on some existing lines will ramp up bus service across the entire system by 12 percent.

Changes take effect Sunday.

Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake residents are the biggest winners, with a 23 percent boost in service. North Spokane gets 12 percent more service. The West Plains increase is 3 percent and on the South Hill, changes focus on improved efficiency and a new park-and-ride lot that will open in November at 31st Avenue and Southeast Boulevard.

STA Light Rail Project Manager K.C. Traver said he hopes that expanded service, particularly in the Valley, will attract new bus riders.

Traver said he spoke last month at Valleyfest with many Spokane Valley residents who said they are interested in trying the new routes, especially as gas prices continue to climb.

Bus rides cost $1 for a one-way trip. Adult monthly passes cost $33. That’s less than what it costs to fill a gas tank these days.

But fares aren’t enough to support STA, which relies on sales tax revenue.

The upcoming improvements are only possible because Spokane County voters last year approved a 0.3 percent sales tax increase for transit. It provides about $18 million a year.

Prior to that vote, STA’s prospects were grim. The agency was preparing to cut 40 percent of its bus service.

But while the public overwhelmingly voted for the tax increase to prevent those cuts, they also made it clear that some changes were in order.

STA officials say the two things they heard loud and clear were to get more people on the bus and to be more efficient.

The recent changes were designed with those goals in mind, adding buses where people would be most likely to use them and cutting underperforming routes.

“Our responsibility is to provide transportation to and from the places people want to go,” said STA Operations Director Steve Blaska.

Take the cross-town bus

Two new routes are garnering especially enthusiastic receptions.

One connects the Spokane Valley Mall to Spokane Community College. The other runs from SCC to the Five Mile park-and-ride lot, with the bulk of the trip along Empire and Garland, including the heart of the Garland Business District.

Both offer east-west connectivity previously unavailable to STA riders, enabling them to cross town without going downtown first.

One existing route offering that service, the Francis Avenue bus line, was slated for elimination until riders protested.

Beverly Johnson, who works at Holy Family Hospital and lives near Shadle Center, said she’s glad STA kept that route and is expanding coverage elsewhere.

Many local colleges will benefit from new connections.

Spokane Falls Community College has been added to the “City Loop” route, so students there can travel to NorthTown and other north Spokane locations without going first to the Plaza. Plus buses will go past the college every 15 minutes instead of every 30 minutes. SFCC and SCC students can use the same loop to travel between the two colleges.

Whitworth will now receive direct service, and Eastern Washington University will see more buses to meet the demand created by the University’s “Eagle Pass” program, in which the college pays STA a deeply discounted rate to buy passes for all its students, faculty and staff.

Some losers

The changes aren’t without some consternation. Several routes have been eliminated, significantly altered or severely reduced. Though none of these routes was heavily used, those who depend on them will have to find other options.

North Wall Street and Rockwood Boulevard are losing their service. There will no longer be a direct connection between Medical Lake and Airway Heights. Linwood and Northwest Terrace neighborhoods will be offered only midday service.

The midday buses are an option because buses can be pulled off higher traffic routes after the morning commute.

It does hurt riders in places like Northwest Terrace, but there aren’t many of them, said Blaska.

“We had only 11 boardings a day,” he said of the route.

But even that middle-of-the-day service is enough to preserve all-day paratransit for those who need it in the Northwest Terrace area.

And Millwood residents now have to transfer buses to get downtown, a trip that has been possible until now on one bus.

Mini-buses

STA planners avoided cutting service to some areas and improved it in others by switching to smaller buses, essentially large, wheelchair accessible vans.

The vans also address a key complaint from STA detractors – too many empty buses.

Each van can carry 14 people, compared to 42 on standard buses and 60 on the articulated buses.

The Five Mile park-and-ride lot, Latah Creek area, Glenrose, Millwood and the Pines route in Spokane Valley will all be served by these vans.

In the case of Glenrose, the vans will feed riders into the new South Hill park-and-ride lot, where they can catch other buses.

Should ridership increase on those routes, buses can be used, said Blaska, who added that other adjustments may be in store depending on ridership.

“It’s an 18- to 24-month process to evaluate whether a new route is successful or not,” he said.

Keeping calm

STA staffers have been manning booths at the STA Plaza to explain the changes and help people map their best routes.

Stops being discontinued have been labeled as such for weeks, and signs are in the ground where new routes will be starting.

By late last week, most riders had already planned their travels under the new system. Many simply grabbed the new schedules for the routes they usually take, but some scoped out the new routes.

STA has also printed up route guides with maps of all the routes and summaries of changes and frequencies.

“It’s the best way to shop through the system to see if there’s a better route for you,” said Traver.

STA employees will be on hand for the first four days after the changes to help riders navigate the new system. Dressed in orange shirts, they’ll man the Plaza and park-and-ride lots to assist riders and direct the lost.

As for finding her way around the new system, rider Johnson isn’t worried: “It’s an adventure.”