Take 1,500 figure skaters, coaches, chaperones and family members. Add thousands of ardent figure skating fans. Throw in media representatives from print and television. Add hundreds of local residents who depend on STA (Spokane Transit Authority) busses for daily travel.

What do you get? 

Transportation logistics of monstrous magnitude. Thankfully, the STA has proven more than equal to such a potentially daunting task.

According to STA communications manager Molly Myers, the organization provided an estimated 45,000 rides during the 2007 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships. In fact, Myers said she believes that resounding success is "one of the reasons we ended up getting the event back here. It was seamless."

The STA isn't new at  facilitating timely travel for large events. "We do a lot of this," Myers said. For example, Bloomsday and Hoopfest have provided ample opportunity for STA drivers and administrators to work the kinks out of high-demand transportation events.

But Myers offered this caveat: "This (2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships) is intense. It's 10 days."

However she added that their drivers truly enjoy the work. "We don't have any problems getting drivers to sign up," she said. "And we don't hire more people-- we just absorb it."

Absorbing it means no one will be taking vacation days during the 10-day event. STA will be operating at full-staffing levels for the duration.

Amazingly, Myers said in 2007, regular riders experienced no negative impact from the additional demands placed on STA services.

For the 2010 event, the organization will add eight more paratransit vans to augment service. Most of those vans will be used to transport athletes and staff from their hotels to the skating venue.

According to Spokane2010.com the benefits to using STA transportation include:

• Transit buses load and unload much faster than charter style buses with wider aisles and ADA compliant access. All of the venues and hotels are less than ten minutes apart.
• The shuttles are on a published schedule; every ten minutes. Just missed the bus? It’s just ten minutes until the next one.
• During peak shuttle usage Spokane Transit can provide more buses to transport all passengers to their destinations quickly and efficiently.

 

In addition, Spokane’s public transportation agency has created two dedicated shuttle routes to transport guests to every site in just minutes. And they're offering bargain prices for event passes, too. A 10-Day Event Pass is just $12, plus a $1.50 handling fee. The pass is good for unlimited rides on any of Spokane Transit’s 40 routes for the duration of the Championships. 

Click here for a complete map of routes and schedules. The Red and Blue Lines will run every ten minutes throughout downtown Spokane for the duration of the Championships.

Event passes are available here. Or by calling 509-328-RIDE (7433).

Myers said the STA is proud to facilitate such a prestigious event. "It's a win-win situation," she said. "Our drivers really get into it and it is a great way to introduce the idea of public transportation to folks who may not have been on a bus since school."

 

 

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