INSIDE

WTA considering canceling van

By Meg Olson

“It just doesn’t make sense to keep both of those vehicles up there,” said Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) representative Kim Cedarstrom. “One has to go.”

When the WTA decided to eliminate the bi-monthly SafetyNet service between Bellingham and Point Roberts last year, with the assumption the community van program could take over those trips, Cedarstrom said riders of the scheduled service voiced loud dissent. So the WTA reinstated that service and on September 15 will look at cutting out the community van Blue Heron Express instead. “One of the things the public wants from us is to be fiscally responsible,” Cedarstrom said.

While SafetyNey is a wheelchair accessible vehicle driven by WTA employees, the community van is smaller and less accessible, Cedarstrom said, and is not meeting the ridership goals set for it when it was established two years ago: two trips a day, six days a week, and a minimum of 2.5 riders per trip. As far as riders it’s fine now but the number of trips is not being met,” she said. The van has been used as a replacement for the turnout bus, eliminated by the Blaine School District last year, to take local students to and from after school activities. Its other primary use is for recreational trips, especially for seniors. “There has been no use for employment purposes,” Cedarstrom said. She said in some cases carpools would be more appropriate.

Cheryl Fitzgerald, a coordinator for the volunteer drivers that run the Blue Heron Express, said cutting the service would be stranding many local residents who, if they lived elsewhere in the county could just “catch a bus:” students with working parents wanting to participate in after-school activities, seniors who have medical appointments every week in Bellingham. “The Blue Heron Express is their only hope for public transportation,” she said.

Fitzgerald encouraged all community members to tell the WTA that Point Roberts residents need continued support for their community van program to meet the community’s needs in a uniquely isolated location. The public meeting to consider eliminating the Blue Heron Express starts at 8 a.m. September 15 at 4111 Bakerview Spur in Bellingham. Comments can also be mailed to that address, emailed to comment@ridewta.com or called in to (360) 715-4500.