Bus ridership up with new routes
Thousands more people are riding the bus one year after Spokane Transit Authority added several new routes, increased frequency on others and improved connections in the Spokane Valley and between the Valley and north Spokane.
The number of rides provided by STA last year topped 8.4 million.
STA made significant changes in October 2005 to eliminate or cut back on low ridership routes, provide bus riders more options to travel between regional hubs without transferring at the STA Plaza, and increase frequency on some of its most popular routes. The overall effect was a 13 percent increase in fixed-route bus service.
Ridership rose 9.5 percent in the year after the changes. That’s 732,338 more rides.
Spokane Valley experienced the biggest surge in riders, when judging by percentage – about 27 percent of the overall increase, said STA Operations Director Steve Blaska. But ridership there is still low when compared with the more urban areas of Spokane.
Spokane Valley has benefited from a number of improvements including added connections between the Valley Transit Center near U-City and the Spokane Valley Mall, a new route between the Spokane Valley Mall and Spokane Community College, and increased frequency on some Valley routes.
Airway Heights Councilman Rick Jacks, a member of STA’s operations and customer service committee, said the changes – which he called “smart decisions” – have been appreciated on the West Plains.
New routes provide direct service between downtown Spokane and Medical Lake and improved service to Airway Heights.
The South Hill gained a new park-and-ride lot and commuter-hour service in the Glenrose area.
“Everything has been about increasing ridership, but it’s not the only performance measure,” said Blaska. He cited the number of passengers per revenue hour (one hour of a bus operating on its route) and costs per passenger as other ways to track success.
STA has a goal to transport 22 passengers per revenue hour and is currently at 20.2 passengers.
“A lot of good news,” said Blaska, “but the work’s not done.”