It happens 34,000 times every day around Spokane. One of your fellow community members gets on and off a bus. That's 34,000 trips each day efficiently on their way to school, work, play, a date or a medical appointment because of STA. Without STA, many of those people would be homebound, and/or tens of thousands more cars would be clogging streets, vying for parking spots and polluting our air.
With such a focus on affordability for families right now, transit is especially helpful. Riding transit keeps transportation costs low for many in our community, especially compared to the cost of driving a car, which comes with an annual cost of $12,300, according to AAA.
STA is rolling right now, with a lot of momentum from several recent successes. One of the most impactful programs I worked on in the Legislature was the youth ride free initiative, which is funded by the Climate Commitment Act. This program provides free transit (bus, rail and ferries) for every Washingtonian 18 years old and younger.
Youth ride free has been a success throughout the state, and Spokane has been a particular bright spot. I triple-checked these numbers because the ridership is so big it is hard to believe... This January, there were 173,000 free youth trips provided by STA. That's remarkable when you think about the mobility we are providing to young people in our city and the money that is being saved by families and the school district through this program.
The youth ride free program led to an STA/Spokane Public Schools partnership where SPS provides almost no yellow school buses for high schools because STA can accommodate those students on their regular routes. Instead of providing high school buses, SPS can divert these saved funds to other important educational priorities.
Another major recent success is the City Line. The City Line had more than 750,000 passenger trips last year. This service makes visiting Downtown Spokane more convenient and is a particular boost for the students and staff who travel to the U-District and Spokane Community College.
I was recently talking with a Gonzaga student who told me that the opening of the City Line was a revelation for her and her friends because suddenly downtown Spokane became such a convenient destination for shopping, eating and nightlife. Bonus: It's also a lot safer and smarter to take a bus home from a bar after drinking rather than driving.
Amidst all the success, it's also important to recognize there is still definitely room to improve, and this is a pivotal time for STA as they continue their search for a new CEO. As we look forward to the completion of that CEO search, here is some advice for the new CEO.
1Keep focused on the Division Street Bus Rapid Transit project. This will be a transformative project for Spokane as we work to keep up with growth in Spokane. Division BRT is a key piece of the overall North Spokane transportation plan and is directly tied to the North Spokane Corridor project.
2Look for collaborations with other organizations that may be as productive as the Spokane Public Schools partnership. Other potential partners could include additional school districts, the Parks Department, Public Facilities District, major events and area employers.
3Don't listen to critics who never ride the bus. Would you trust a restaurant critic who never goes out to eat? It is tiresome to hear rants about transit from people who have never witnessed first-hand the cross-section of Spokane that rides every day. When I ride the 4 to or from work, I am struck by the range of people I see... businesspeople, families, students, seniors. It feels like someone from every segment of our city. When you ride the bus, even just once in a while, it's easy to see that it is an indispensable lifeline for many and an economic engine for our community. It's an essential perspective for anyone who wants to be taken seriously when discussing transit policy.
4Keep STA Plaza where it is. Every so often, there are whispers or shouts to move STA Plaza. Moving the Plaza continues to be a bad idea. STA should always be looking for ways to improve STA Plaza, but it is crucial that it remain located in Central Downtown, which increases the convenience for the many people who start or end a trip at the plaza. We need to be looking for ways to make it easier and more convenient to ride the bus, not more inconvenient. And we should be looking for ways to get more people downtown, not funneling people away from the heart of our city.
5Continue STA's progress to convert fully to zero-emission vehicles. In addition to improving air quality and reducing emissions, zero-emission vehicles provide a 32% reduction in fuel and maintenance costs compared to diesel buses.
6Lead a robust public process to figure out what's next for STA. Can transit be the solution to the transportation problems in the Latah Valley? Will monitored bike parking at park-and-rides create a meaningful increase in bike-bus connections? Is it possible to provide high-frequency and extended-hour service on all routes? Is it time to reconsider light rail from the airport to Coeur d'Alene? But, a word of caution as well: While considering big new ideas, keep focused on the core mission: efficient, effective, affordable and frequent service that is so vital to so many in our community. See you on the bus! ♦
Andy Billig represented the 3rd District, covering much of Spokane, in the Washington State Legislature starting in 2011 as a state representative. He became a state senator in 2013 and Senate majority leader in 2018; he did not run for reelection in 2024. Billig is the CEO of Brett Sports.
