STA proposes route changes

Spokane’s bus system is set to get its first major overhaul since 1998.

The Spokane Transit Authority proposal calls for many new routes and increasing bus frequency along some corridors, but there are areas that might lose service, including Linwood, Northwest Terrace and a portion of Spokane’s South Hill.

STA will hold a hearing on the proposal in two weeks, and wants to implement the final plan in September. The service increases, made possible by voter approval of a 0.3 percent sales tax increase, are scheduled to begin in September. Overall, STA plans to increase fixed route service by about 10 percent.

The goal is to lure more riders and increase efficiency by offering more direct routes between key locations and increased frequency, said STA Operations Director Steve Blaska.

“This is all good news. This is more service,” said Blaska.

Some of the suggested improvements include better service to Cheney and Medical Lake from downtown Spokane, half-hour service rather than just rush-hour buses along Indian Trail and from Francis Avenue to the Hastings Park and Ride on the North Side. Also, it would add more service to the Spokane Valley Mall and Liberty Lake, as well as a new route between the Spokane Valley and Spokane Community College.

About eight routes will go from having service only every 60 minutes to having it every 30 minutes.

“It sounds like a great idea,” said SCC Student Body Vice President Chuck Skirko of the planned new Valley-SCC route. “Anything that will help our students is a benefit.”

SCC students, faculty and staff may also soon be able to ride the bus free of charge.

Myers said that STA has been discussing an SCC program similar to the Eagle Pass program it runs with Eastern Washington University. In that program, EWU pays a discounted, lump sum so that all of its community can use the bus.

Not all riders are happy with the suggested plan.

People in areas currently getting service, but proposed to be chopped off the route map, are angry.

Barbara Ekholm uses the bus to ride from her home in north Spokane’s Linwood neighborhood to her job at Sacred Heart Medical Center’s business office.

“We figured they would enhance routes and make them better,” Ekholm said.

Ekholm said that some riders feel STA is betraying them by proposing to eliminate routes after promising not to make cuts if the tax passed.

“I was a little flabbergasted because they advertised that if we voted ‘Yes’ we wouldn’t lose our routes,” she said.

STA never promised to keep everything as it is, said spokeswoman Jill Lamb, who was intimately involved in educating the public about what would happen without the extra tax money and is now working to explain the proposed service changes.

“I know I personally never told anybody, ‘We won’t change your service,’ ” Lamb said, adding that she will do everything she can to help people who lose service find other transportation options.

Many of the routes proposed for elimination have been poor performers, said STA Communications Manager Molly Myers.

The agency needs to serve riders, but it also has to remember its promise to the entire community to work harder to make sure it operates efficiently, Blaska said.

“The non-riding public didn’t want us to cover the map with routes if we weren’t going to serve it efficiently,” he said.

Even so, some said that STA is being criticized for even thinking about cutting service to some areas.

“One of the primary things I’m worried about is the reputation of STA,” said Linda Bond, who uses a South Hill route that is being proposed for elimination.

STA staff are already backing off of some of the changes proposed in the draft service plan because of their unpopularity at meetings with riders and neighborhood groups.

Negative comments about a plan to eliminate a bus route that travels along 11th and 17th avenues between Perry and Thor streets has almost certainly guaranteed that the service will remain intact, said Myers, who added that the proposal isn’t set in stone.

“This was just supposed to be a conversation stimulator,” she said.

The STA Board will make the final decisions on the proposed changes. They are scheduled to settle on a plan in March.

Bond said it seems as if STA is more interested in commuters than in the people who rely on bus service as their only means of transportation.

“I think the changes they’re making are based on some ideas that they have – if they concentrate in some areas and put in park and ride lots, they’re going to add a lot of riders,” she said.

Transit officials call commuters and other people who use the bus but have other options, “choice” riders, and expanding ridership depends in part on attracting more of these riders to the STA’s service.

“We’re trying to compete with the auto and we’re trying to make it more convenient,” said STA Transit Planner Ryan Stewart.

But Stone said that STA should focus on the people who need the bus the most: “We’ve got a lot of working poor.”

One area that both riders and STA staff admit could use vast improvement is evening and weekend service.

STA is unable to afford to add more service during those times, said Blaska.

“Your swing shift and late-night shift workers, we’re still not going to be getting to them,” he said, adding that expanding hours would be the next logical improvement to make after this round of changes.

Many of the proposed enhancements, however, could bring additional riders into the system.

A route extension along Upriver Drive could also help many people, said Margy Hall with Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs’ housing opportunities program.

STA is proposing extending bus service to Havana, just a few blocks from SNAP’s Riverwalk Point low-income housing development and several other large apartment complexes. The area has about 400 housing units, Hall said.

Though she doesn’t ride the bus, LeAne Austin said that a proposed new east-west route along Garland Avenue would be a welcome addition to the north Spokane neighborhood.

Austin owns a cat-themed gift and collectibles store called Catnip in the Garland Business District.

“As people go cruising by, they’d say, ‘Look. There’s an interesting store,’ ” she said.