STA sees support for route improvements

Only one person testified last week at a Spokane Transit Authority hearing on several proposed route improvements, but transit officials are confident they’re on the right track.

Spokeswoman Molly Myers said comments have been “overwhelmingly supportive” in a survey at the park-and-ride lot on Hastings Road near north Division Street. She estimated that 50 to 60 people expressed their opinions in the survey and on the STA’s Web site.

Myers said the person who spoke at Thursday’s hearing told board members he liked the proposed North Express route.

It would run between the Hastings Road park-and-ride lot and downtown Spokane with no stops except at Francis, Wellesley and Broadway avenues. It would offer weekday service on 15-minute intervals between 5 and 9 a.m. and between 3 and 7 p.m.

STA board members may act on the North Express and other proposals when they meet at 5:30 p.m. May 17.

Myers also said staff members may amend a proposal to provide better service to Spokane International Airport because of second thoughts about whether buses would arrive in time for some early morning flights.

“We’re having further discussions with folks at the airport,” Myers said.

The STA staff has proposed a West Plains route realignment to allow direct service between downtown and the airport at 30-minute intervals while improving commuter service to large employers along Sunset Highway, such as the Group Health offices and the Bank of America call center.

Only hourly service is available now to the airport and Sunset Highway businesses on Route 64.

The tentative plan calls for transferring airport service from Route 64 to an extended Valley Limited Route 74. But service on that route begins about 6:15 a.m., and the first airport arrival would be about 7 a.m.

“For many people, you have to arrive at the airport about an hour earlier than that to catch your flight,” Myers said.

Also, she said, some STA board members are concerned that people going to the airport might leave their cars at the park-and-ride lots in Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake, which have limited overnight security.

Other portions of a $1.3 million-a-year package of bus service improvements would:

“Start service earlier on some routes so buses would arrive downtown by 5:45 a.m. The first arrivals are at 6:12 a.m. now.

“Acquire land to expand park-and-ride capacity at Liberty Lake. Service would be ramped up by adding buses on some trips if the additional parking increases ridership as expected.

Eventually, the service interval on Route 72 would decrease from 20 to 15 minutes.

“Add a Route 62 stop and perhaps, eventually, a park-and-ride lot at Interstate 90’s Medical Lake interchange, Exit 272.

If approved at next month’s meeting, implementation of the service improvements would begin in September.