‘City Line is exceptionally popular’: Spokane’s new rapid transit bus system hits 500,000 rides

After nearly nine months in service, Spokane’s first and only rapid transit bus route has topped 500,000 rides.

“We’re really, really pleased that we hit a half million rides at this point,” said Carly Cortright, Spokane Transit Authority spokeswoman. “It shows that the City Line is exceptionally popular.”

Though the Monroe Regal line takes the cake for being Spokane’s most popular bus route by sheer numbers, City Line, whose 6-mile route stretches from Browne’s Addition to Spokane Community College, is the most popular in terms of ridership per mile, Cortright said.

“City Line is right up there as being one of the highest-ridership lines, but the Monroe Regal line goes all the way from Moran Prairie Park & Ride all the way to the Five Mile Park & Ride,” an 11.4-mile route. “(City Line) is about half the length, and so when you look at it per mile, it has the highest ridership,” she said.

Still, the 60-foot, zero-emission buses haven’t been as popular as STA’s pre-COVID-19 estimate indicated.

“Our original projections were a million rides per year,” Cortright said. That means City Line should’ve hit 500,000 in January.

This wasn’t unexpected, Cortright said; ridership on public transit decreased nationwide after the pandemic.

“Our estimates, we knew, would be lower than that million rides, but we have had, really, a wonderful recovery,” she said. “Many other transit agencies are still struggling to have riders return, and we’re really fortunate that our ridership has really bounced back.”

City Line has been especially popular with youths 18 and younger, who ride free, making up 20% of the systems riders, Cortright said. The purple buses have also been a hit with Gonzaga University students.

“We have a great partnership with Gonzaga, and being able to have those students have that flexibility to go different places, to entertainment, to jobs, has been something that we’ve been really pleased with,” she said.

When City Line launched in July, a staffing shortage prevented the system’s promised frequencies.

Since then, “we’ve made really great strides with hiring operators,” Cortright said. “We’ve got the last class of operators in training right now, and so come May 26th, City Line will be fully operational.”

After that, stops will be serviced every 7 ½ minutes during peak hours of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., every 10 minutes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and every 15 minutes on Sundays.

The transit signal priority system, which will signal to upcoming traffic lights to turn green ahead of the arrival of a City Line bus, is close to being fully operational, Cortright said, though she didn’t have a specific date for its completion.

“We are at final phases with that. We are testing it with City of Spokane,” she said.

Another rapid transit bus system is in Spokane’s future. STA is in the “planning and design phase” for one on Division Street.

“That’s projected to launch when the North-South Corridor freeway opens up officially, when it connects with I-90 in 2030,” Cortright said.