STA sees million-rider month

Ridership on Spokane Transit Authority buses and vans in October surpassed the 1 million-per-month mark for the first time.

The milestone came after nearly three years of steady growth in the number of STA passengers.

“It’s quite amazing,” Susan Meyer, chief executive officer at STA, said Friday.

By the end of the year, STA expects it will have provided 11 million rides in 2008, compared with 9.4 million in 2007.

STA isn’t alone in seeing ridership increases. The Citylink system serving Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, Worley, Plummer and other locations in North Idaho also has seen steady growth in boardings since it began operating three years ago this month.

“The ridership has been tremendous,” said Bob Bostwick, a spokesman for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, which operates the free transit system through its own funds and a matching grant obtained from the federal government to Kootenai County.

Citylink had 38,400 riders last September compared with 18,700 in September 2007.

Ridership growth has meant full buses, mainly during the afternoon, said regular rider Douglas Lampley, who uses STA to travel from his home in northeast Spokane to his job downtown. He said the bus serves a lot of students and low-income residents and has standing room only from about 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. or later.

“It’s definitely a lot more packed,” Lampley said.

While for many riders the bus may be a necessity, crowded buses are also an inconvenience.

Desari Marshall, who uses the North Monroe route, often carries her baby, Issabella, with her. Taking a child in a carrier onto a full bus is a chore, she said. “I’d really rather have my own car,” said Marshall, who works at a call center downtown.

The growth in mass transit ridership in the Inland Northwest parallels increases being reported across the country, especially in smaller cities like Spokane, Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, officials said.

In Spokane, ridership in 2008 so far is up 20 percent. Ridership nationally is up 5.2 percent through the first six months of 2008.

Across the country, a spike in gasoline prices following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 may have started the trend, but the increase in ridership has continued even when gas prices have stabilized or fallen. Meyer said her agency has worked to reorganize routes and improve service to meet rider needs. That means having extra buses dispatched to serve overflow demand on popular routes, such as express buses. Also, bus drivers have been credited with paying attention to riders to help them get where they need to go.

Lampley said if he isn’t sure what stop to take, he just asks the driver, who makes sure he gets off at the right spot.

He said bus riders are normally “pretty peaceful” even when the bus is crowded. “They’ll move over to let you have a seat,” he said.