Bus Route Changed After Kidnapping

Last month’s kidnapping of three Japanese students has resulted in changes to Spokane Transit Authority’s weekend bus route at Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute.

STA announced last week it is extending its No. 20 Driscoll route onto the campus of Mukogawa on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

The change took effect on Saturday.

Three female students at the institute were abducted while waiting for a bus just off the campus on Nov. 11. They reportedly were headed downtown.

Two of the women were taken to a Spokane Valley home, where they reported being sexually assaulted in a videotaped incident.

Two men and a woman were arrested and each faces several felony charges in connection with the ordeal.

At the time, STA’s weekend schedule did not include a loop onto the campus off Fort Wright Drive. However, its weekday route did include the loop onto campus.

After the incident, officials at the institute asked STA executives to consider extending the route onto campus on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

“We make changes all the time,” said STA spokeswoman Jill Lamb.

“It’s not out of the ordinary for us to do this,” she said. “We had time on that route to be able to do that.”

The two-block loop onto campus did not cause any changes in the bus’s schedule throughout the rest of its weekend and holiday route, Lamb said.