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Intercity Transit’s board of directors opted during a public hearing Wednesday night not to schedule an action item Sept. 15 to consider slashing service on Dash, a free shuttle that runs on Capitol Way between the Capitol Campus and the Olympia Farmers Market. General Manager Mike Harbour said a decision must be made soon to cut service this year; otherwise, the issue will need to wait until after next year’s legislative session.
“It essentially moves us into the spring in making a decision,” Harbour said.
The board will further discuss cutting the service Sept. 15, but it will be during a work session, and no action will be taken.
The service costs about $700,000 per year.
Intercity Transit has been considering cutting back or dropping the service because of declining ridership, due in part to the state’s closure of a key parking lot on the Capitol Campus. The agency moved to consider dropping the service despite passage of a two-tenths-of-a-cent sales tax, expected to generate about $7 million a year, that was pitched as a way to save current transit service.
The issue has aroused plenty of community interest. Before Wednesday’s public hearing, 85 people had made comments to Intercity Transit about cutting the Dash service. Of those, 39 supported the service, 31 wanted to reduce or cut service and 15 made other suggestions.
About a dozen people attended the public hearing Wednesday night. Four spoke; all favored keeping some form of service, but one was more critical.
“The question in my mind is not how to reduce and eliminate the service, but how to expand it,” said Tim Moffatt of Olympia. He said the shuttle serves people at the marinas and the elderly at the Boardwalk Apartments on Capitol Way and eases traffic problems during events.
Jeff Trinin, representing the Olympia Downtown Association, argued to keep the service and re-route it to other areas to pick up more riders.
“Dash is very vital,” he said.
Thurston County resident Michael Wilson, who said he didn’t get a chance to vote on the tax measure, suggested ways to keep the service running but use a different type of vehicle, or to privatize the service.
“While we subsidize a service for some, there are people in the community that are doing without,” he said.
Olympia Councilwoman Karen Rogers, one of the agency’s nine board members, supports keeping the service. But several other members are critical, particularly those representing areas outside Olympia. The board includes City Council members of Lacey, Yelm, Tumwater and Olympia, a county commissioner, three citizen representatives and a labor representative.
“The Dash, to me, is a waste,” said board member Joe Baker, a Yelm councilman. “I think we’re putting something out here that we can’t afford.”
Matt Batcheldor: 360-704-6869 mbatcheldor@theolympian.com
