Partnership puts more buses on road

THE NORTH IDAHO COMMUNITY EXPRESS, or NICE bus, is nearly full, but agrees to make a stop in Careywood, Idaho.

Given 24 hours of notice, the nonprofit transit business is accommodating, but our planned rendezvous site is plastered with signs designating it a “tow away” zone. I park a little farther away, tromp through puddles of slush and wait for my ride in darkness.

The driver of the 32-passenger bus seems nonchalant about snowflakes pelting the windshield and traffic kicking up icy sludge along U.S. Highway 95. The seats are soft, cozy and complete with seat belts, which are essential on this high-fatality stretch. Inside, riders relax, nap and finish their homework.

The bus pulls off the highway and drops a man near the Chilco sawmill. It weaves through side streets and deposits children at charter and Christian schools. One passenger gets off near the strip mall on Appleway. The bus swings by the emergency room entrance at Kootenai Medical Center and lets me out safe, sound and, by now, completely warm and dry. Nearly all of the remaining riders are headed to North Idaho College for jobs or advanced education.

I paid $14 for my ride that day, but for regular riders, the $95 intercounty pass is a better option. Soon Kootenai and Benewah county residents will get to share a similar experience, but it will be free.

Thanks to a proposal between Kootenai County and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, regularly scheduled buses are planned to run between Post Falls, Hayden and Coeur d’Alene. Although the final agreement is still in the works, planners expect buses to be purchased and on the roads by April 1.

John Austin, a transportation planner working through the Panhandle Area Council, helps administer grant money that allows for the new bus service. He said it is a unique partnership between the tribe and local government.

“The reason this works so well is because the tribe is willing to pick up the costs,” Austin said.

New 35-passenger buses will run a daily urban route between shopping sites, North Idaho College, Kootenai Medical Center and downtown Coeur d’Alene. The buses will be leased by the tribe during the pilot operation. After three years, the tribe will be able to purchase them for $1.

The planned routes will be reviewed and may change based on rider needs. These buses will link with a rural route, expected to extend into northern Benewah County. The rural route is designed to help low-income people get to job opportunities and education facilities. There will be no cost to riders.

“The biggest deterrent to job force development is transportation,” Austin said. “It makes more sense to give someone a bus ticket than four new car tires.”

When the cities of Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Hayden exceeded 50,000 total population in the 2000 census, Kootenai County was considered an urban area and no longer able to tap into rural transportation funds. The Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization was developed to guide transportation issues. Federal law requires urban areas to develop long range transportation plans as a prerequisite for receiving federal funding for regional transportation improvements.

For dollars obtained through the Federal Transit Administration, a percentage of matching nonfederal dollars must be contributed to transportation projects. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe is providing $264,000 in matching funds for the new urban route and another $130,000 for the rural route. In exchange, the KMPO will assist the rural routes with nearly $100,000, which will enhance the tribe’s ability to tap into other funds.

A survey by the KMPO identified several transportation needs, including safe shelter with park-and-ride sites. You can’t justify building structures until riders are established, according to Austin. Another identified need is for linkage with the Spokane transit system.

“It’d be really great to get on a bus in Coeur d’Alene and get to downtown Spokane,” Austin said.

The new bus service is intended to serve as a complement to NICE and transportation already available in the county. Nearly 50,000 riders a year use on-demand services such as the Kootenai Medical Center van, Kootenai Area Transportation System and North Idaho College shuttle buses. Plans include tying in these services, which are already established and funded, and have them link riders to bus stops.

For the future, transportation planning still needs inclusion with the northern counties. Now, the NICE bus sends two shuttle buses northward in the afternoons. About a dozen riders head home from Kootenai County at 2 p.m. and a dozen more at 5 p.m. Many are returning home from school, while others get a curbside pickup from their job sites. Discounted passes are available for children and seniors.

“I’d love to see additional routes go from Sandpoint,” Austin said. “There’s a tremendous demand. If we coordinate our services, we can continue to make public service better and better. Our partnership with the tribe – it’s not common. It would be wonderful to find another funding partner up north.”