Citylink ridership growing

A three-month-old Citylink bus route between Riverstone and Cabela’s is attracting an ever-growing numbers of riders and may be the cornerstone for a new public transportation link between Kootenai and Spokane counties.

Talks are in the initial stages, but people on both sides of the border say there is potential for a cross-state bus route.

Development on the western edge of Post Falls has been booming, and so have commuter trips, said Luke Malek, executive director of the Post Falls Urban Renewal Agency.

To prepare for even more trips in the future, the city of Post Falls has an agreement to buy a park and ride lot at Foursquare Properties. The five-acre site near the Cabela’s store will be used for carpooling and mass transit, including Citylink.

“The location is perfect,” Malek said. “Everyone was looking at that area saying we’re going to need a way to get people out there because there will be a lot of jobs there.”

The Riverstone-Cabela’s route attracted 1,947 riders in November and 6,624 in December, just two months into its run.

Citylink is a cooperative effort between the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and Kootenai County.

Citylink ridership grew by almost 60 percent in 2007, from 14,635 riders in December 2006 to 23,255 in December 2007.

A recently revised route system added coverage areas to both Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls.

The former system of two routes traveling along the same loop in opposite directions made some trips quicker for some in Post Falls than the current system which requires them to travel through Riverstone to get back to Post Falls.

“We decided serving a greater amount of riders was more important,” said Citylink Assistant Transportation Manager Rod Mitchell of the new routes.

The Cabela’s route has been a real hit, said Citylink Assistant Transportation Manager Andrew Murphy.

“It’s working out well. We reached out to the state line which was a bit of a gamble,” Murphy said.

That gamble could make an Idaho-Washington public transportation link a real possibility.

Spokane Transit Authority officials will meet with Malek this month to discuss the potential for a future STA-Citylink connection at the Cabela’s park and ride lot.

A regional transportation hub at that location would provide public transportation linking places as far apart as Plummer and Cheney, although the bulk of use would probably take people between Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene and Spokane.

“It’s really an exploratory conversation,” said STA spokeswoman Molly Myers.

STA’s closest stop right now is about four miles away in Liberty Lake.

“A large number of the cars parked at the Liberty Lake Park and Ride lot have Idaho plates,” said Spokane Regional Transportation Council and Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization spokeswoman Staci Lehman, who uses the lot herself.

“We’re very interested in the idea of regional transportation hub,” Lehman said.

A 2005 travel survey conducted by the Spokane Regional Transportation Council found that 7,000 working households have members who travel between the two counties for work.

STA tried in late 2005 to win a Washington state grant to provide limited, commute service into Coeur d’Alene, but was turned down.

Crossing state lines wouldn’t be a problem if the STA Board decides the link would benefit its riders. Myers said that the entire area is growing with more cross-state commuting as each day passes.

“We’re told from legal that there are no issues,” Myers said. “It would just require an interlocal agreement.”

When the time comes, Citylink will be on board, Murphy said.

“We’re still a way out, but we’re trying to prepare ourselves for that growth,” he said.