WA: Transportation options focus of Grant Transit

The Grant Transit Authority may be working on a pilot project to provide on-request bus service to senior citizens, starting in selected areas of Grant County. That was one of the possibilities discussed during the GTA board's annual review Thursday.

General Manager Eric Loomis said it's not just an exercise in looking at the GTA's present and future, but it's also determining where and how to add — and change — services as Grant County changes. Changes to daily scheduled routes, called fixed routes, are an example, he said.

"What does that look like as populations age, for assisted living, (for) housing?" he said. "(As an example), schools as new families come in with new business, where those new schools might be built and how we can accommodate those needs throughout the county."

The GTA was authorized in 1996 with the idea of providing transportation options to people who didn't have other ways to get around.

"It's choice riders versus riders that have no other options," he said. "First and foremost, that's where our services provide a need for folks that don't have other means of transportation."

Riders are not charged a fee; the GTA is funded through a sales tax, two-tenths of one percent, along with federal and state grants.

"One thing we are proud of is that we haven't increased — or even requested an increase — in the sales tax since that inception. So right now we run on a 0.02% tax, which is the least amount you can do as (public transit benefit district), and that's enough."

The busiest fixed routes are around Moses Lake, he said, and one of the most popular is the run from downtown to Big Bend Community College.

" Route 10 is Moses Lake out to Big Bend, and from there we have a transfer route that goes to Ephrata," he said. "Those two routes are our largest operating."

The on-request routes range further out, providing options for people who don't have other means of transport. On-request passengers must schedule 24 to 48 hours in advance.

Loomis said one of the GTA's goals is to expand those options, which are very important in a rural county.

He cited options for people with limited mobility as an example. The transit authority is required to provide those, but only within a specific radius of a fixed-route bus stop.

"What about those folks who are a mile beyond that?" he said. "My idea is expanding our (on-request) services to truly be a county-wide service. It might be limited in how we operate it, but at least give people an opportunity to utilize our services. Everyone in the county pays the sales tax; everyone should have some level of access."

The on-request service for seniors would be one option. In answer to a question from GTA board member Don Myers, Loomis said providing an option for seniors is a good place to start.

"Seniors tend to have a higher usage rate for transit," he said.

Other on-request services could be added if the experiment with a service for seniors is successful, he said.

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