Sta Unveils Scaled-Back Route Changes Board Forgoes Major Revision After Public Outcry

The times, they are a-changin’.

And so are the routes.

On Wednesday, the Spokane Transit Authority board of directors approved the first major revision of bus service in 16 years.

Schedules will change in September 1998, providing more frequent service on many routes. The routes will change, too, requiring some STA patrons to walk farther before they can ride.

The near silence that accompanied Wednesday’s 8-1 vote stood in contrast to the months of contentious argument over sweeping changes recommended by an Oregon transit expert.

STA received 3,500 letters about that proposal, many of them critical.

About 250 angry bus riders and two happy ones attended a hearing in October to speak their minds. One presented the board with a paper “crown of stupidity.”

The normally unflappable Mike Brewer, a Spokane City Council member and chairman of the STA board, waved his gavel during that October meeting and threatened to clear the room.

Based on the upset riders’ comments, STA staff recommended moderating the proposal, preserving some neighborhood routes that otherwise would have been cut.

Wednesday was STA’s last chance to adopt the changes without having to educate a new crop of board members. It was the last meeting for Brewer and the lame-duck mayors of Cheney, Medical Lake and Airway Heights - Al Ogdon, Sharie Stearns and Don Harmon.

Millwood Mayor Jeanne Batson cast the sole vote against the proposal Wednesday. Like other board members, Batson did not comment Wednesday.

But she made her opinion clear during last month’s meeting:

“I still say: Leave the whole thing the way it was before you hired a consultant.”

, DataTimes