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Evergreen has agreed to again pick up the tab for the 411 Nightline service, which costs $13,830 per quarter. The line runs from the Olympia Transit Center downtown to the campus. The bus will pick up from downtown Olympia as late as 3 a.m. Saturday and Sunday and drop students off as late as 3:18 a.m.
On Sunday nights, the last downtown pickup will be at 11 p.m., arriving on campus at 11:18 p.m.
The service, which started in 2008, is timed to resume at the beginning of Evergreen’s fall quarter. Though it’s targeted toward students, it is open to the public at the regular fare price.
An average of more than 40 passengers board the route every hour, Intercity Transit spokeswoman Meg Kester said in an email. That’s well above the average for the bus system of 22 passengers per hour per fixed route. Another batch of service changes will take place starting Oct. 2, a Sunday.
For starters, Route 60, serving the medical district along Lilly Road, will see reduced service.
Buses will stay on the same basic route but no longer will detour onto the Panorama campus. The route no longer will include Pacific Avenue or the portion of Lilly Road between Pacific Avenue and Martin Way; it instead will include Martin Way and Sleater-Kinney Road.
Buses will serve the St. Francis House between 10:47 a.m. and 2:47 p.m.
Transit authority staffers said the change is necessary because it has become difficult for the bus to meet its schedule on the busy route.
Cuts also are on the way for the Dash shuttle, which runs from the Capitol Campus to the Olympia Farmers Market. The shuttle now will run from 7:05 a.m. to 6:25 p.m. weekdays instead of 6:45 a.m. to 7:15 p.m.
Once the legislative session begins, a third Dash bus will be added during the peak hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also, Saturday service will be eliminated from September to December, but it will remain available during the farmers market’s busiest season from April to August.
Some Intercity Transit Authority members pushed to cut the Dash service due to low ridership.
Commuter service to Pierce County will increase. Starting Oct. 3, Intercity Transit will add service to one northbound express and add a southbound trip.
The northbound trip, which now leaves the Lacey Transit Center at 4:35 p.m., will originate at the Olympia Transit Center at 4:15 p.m., Kester said. A new southbound trip at 5:50 p.m. from Tacoma will put a “deadhead” trip, a bus that returns with no passengers, into service.
Also, a 6 p.m. departure from Tacoma will begin leaving at 6:15 p.m.
The new service and schedule tweaks are a result of a Pierce Transit’s decision to cut its eight remaining one-way trips Oct. 2. Pierce Transit earlier cut eight of the trips in June, prompting Intercity Transit to add four daily express trips.
Matt Batcheldor: 360-704-6869
mbatcheldor@theolympian.com
