New Bus Route Plan Wins Board Support

Most Spokane Transit Authority board members like a modified plan for bus route changes that STA staffers say should please most riders.

But the board voted Wednesday to spend another 21 days telling riders about the changes before making its final decision Dec. 17.

“One month isn’t going to kill us. I don’t see a downside in waiting,” said county Commissioner Kate McCaslin, an STA board member.

Although McCaslin didn’t express an opinion about the modified plan, six of the nine board members did. Five said they’ll support it.

STA last year hired a consultant to map more efficient bus routes. It was the first time in 16 years that the agency planned a major change.

The proposal, which would have required many riders to walk farther in exchange for more frequent service, drew more than 3,500 letters. Many were critical of the changes.

At an October hearing, only two out of about 250 people said they liked the proposal.

The original plan would have affected 933 bus trips a day; the new one cuts that number to fewer than 300.

Most comments STA has received since announcing the modifications are positive, transit planner Connie Peterson Brady told the board.

If the board votes next month to adopt the modifications, routes would change in September 1998.

Of the STA board members who commented about the modifications Wednesday, only Millwood Mayor Jeanne Batson said she’ll vote no.

“I still say leave the whole thing the way it was before you hired a consultant,” Batson said.

, DataTimes