Friday, December 25, 2009

Mountain Rides running strong

Expansion plans on track for 2010


By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

Mountain Rides Transportation Authority has ambitious plans for the coming year. Photo by David N. Seelig

Mountain Rides Transportation Authority enters the new year with more buses running around the Wood River Valley and ambitious plans to expand in Hailey and even into the Magic Valley.

The latest route expansion was into Hulen Meadows north of Ketchum. The Mountain Rides "Green" route for the Ketchum-Sun Valley Town service no longer ends at Thunder Spring in north Ketchum but now makes a five-mile roundtrip loop north.

Mountain Rides Executive Director Jason Miller said Hulen Meadows residents requested the service.

"We heard it for a long time and we had some flexibility with that route," Miller said. "We thought we'd give it a shot and see how it goes. Maintaining that route means people have to use it, so we'll see."

The Hulen Meadows expansion was not the only recent change to Mountain Rides' service. On Monday a new schedule became effective for the Valley service, which connects the Ketchum-Sun Valley area to Hailey and Bellevue. Changes include daily service to and from the River Run Ski Lodge, additional midday and evening buses on weekdays and additional bus service on Saturday morning.

Ridership still high

In spite of a sluggish economy, Miller said, ridership numbers are still high for Mountain Rides. He expects 2009 numbers will be close to those of last year, when the organization provided 396,955 rides on its buses and vans.

If so, ridership in the Wood River Valley will differ from trends elsewhere in the U.S. Nationwide, according to the American Public Transportation Association, public transit ridership was down 3.8 percent in the first nine months of this year.

"We're doing slightly better than the national trend," Miller said.

As of the end of November, Mountain Rides had recorded 330,248 rides thus far this year.

"I think we'll have a strong December, so I think we're pretty much going to meet what we were at last year," Miller said. "If we can pull a good 50,000-plus December, which I'm hoping, we'll match it."

Miller is pleased with the numbers, especially since ridership in 2008 was the highest since the mid- to late 1990s when skier numbers were exceptionally high in the valley.

The ridership increase in 2008 was attributed mainly to gasoline prices that soared that summer to close to $5 a gallon. Even after gasoline prices dropped, ridership remained higher than most years of this decade because people had developed a habit of riding the buses or vans, he said.

Miller remains optimistic that ridership will remain high or even increase next year.

"I think we've got good economic support from our funding partners, who continued to fund us through this economic downturn, and I think they've got a good return on their investments." he said.

Mountain Rides receives both state and federal funds, supplemented by rider fees and funds from Blaine County and the cities of Bellevue, Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley.

Future expansion

Plans remain on track for 2010 to provide service in Hailey and to extend it into the Magic Valley for daily commuters. Miller said both services are expected to be up and running in March or April.

"We're looking at the details of what is the route configurations, what are the schedules—all those details," he said.

The Hailey around-town service will link into the Valley route system and connect major activity centers such as the Community Campus, Senior Connection, the downtown and the new St. Luke's hospital clinic. As with the Ketchum-Sun Valley Town system, the service is intended to be free to riders.

Service to the Magic Valley will connect the Wood River Valley to the cities of Shoshone and Twin Falls with one roundtrip bus per day, later expanding to two. Single-trip prices are expected to be in the $10 range.

Also in the works is a plan to acquire property in Bellevue for a bus terminal and a park-and-ride location. Mountain Rides is working with the city to acquire a parcel owned by the Idaho Transportation Department northeast of the intersection of state Highway 75 and Gannett Road. Miller said the city supports the idea.

"They really see that property as a gateway to their city," Miller said. "If they can capture people at that park-and-ride, that means less traffic through their city."

Dogs on the bus?

A question about allowing dogs on buses was raised recently in a Mountain Rides survey for riders and prospective riders.

Numerous readers commented, either for or against the idea, on the Idaho Mountain Express Web site. Some wrote that they would not ride the bus if dogs were allowed, while dog advocates accused those of being against the proposal of being "dog challenged."

Miller said Mountain Rides nixed the idea, mainly because of liability issues.

"No dogs on the bus," he said. "We still allow service dogs and animals in small carriers."

Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com




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