WTA buses to roll through local streets

By Meg Olson

The Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) has shelved a grant application to finance scheduled bus service to Point Roberts and has instead opted to give the Point up to two community vans. “They came up with a better solution for us,” said Joan Roberts, part of a group that researched the grant and proposed it to the WTA board in September.

At a special meeting October 10 the WTA board compared the proposal for scheduled bus service to several alternatives and chose the community vans. “The grant is no longer on the table,” said WTA representative Maureen Camandona. “They approved up to two community-use vans. Drivers from the community would go through a brief WTA training and they would keep the vans at home. WTA will pay for all gas, maintenance and insurance.”

In his staff report to commissioners WTA service development director Rick Gordon explained Point Roberts didn’t have enough population to meet standards for fixed route service, the added uncertainty of border waits would make a scheduled run problematic. The vans would provide a level of service consistent with WTA standards, while being more cost effective and more flexible for the community.

“The advantage is the van stays here and can be used for things besides shuttling back and forth to Blaine,” Roberts said. Roberts said the vans will help people get around locally and travel further afield. “We could take kids to school at Southpointe. We could take seniors to a play in Vancouver,” she said.

The community vans would operate the same way the Vanpool system works, but with a few bonuses. Vanpool is for commuters from a specific employer who leases the service from WTA seven days a week based on mileage and WTA covers gas, maintenance and insurance. In the case of the community vans, WTA would pay all costs and the vans could be used seven days a week.. “There are no fares,” Roberts said.

Roberts said she is putting together a pool of volunteer drivers. “I’’ll put together a list and WTA trains us and insures us,” she said. “We can have up to 30 drivers, the more the merrier.” She can be reached at Brewsters restaurant at 945-4545.
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