Op-Ed: Why Spokane Needs to Keep Its Transit Momentum

The secret is out about Spokane. The New York Times has covered the thousands of people moving to the Lilac City. As the home of the largest urban waterfall in the U.S., a metal goat that eats your trash, the only Chili’s in Washington State (outside of Sea-Tac), a great advocacy community led by Spokane Reimagined, and plenty of warm, welcoming folks, Spokane has a lot to offer.

Urbanist readers may know Spokane for getting rid of parking mandates and for allowing for more missing middle housing before House Bill 1110 passed statewide. But some folks might not be aware of Spokane’s highly effective transit agency, which gave the 2nd highest number of fixed route bus rides in the state, behind only King County Metro, while doing so at the lowest cost per passenger in the state when compared with other urban transit agencies. Spokane taxpayers are getting bang for their buck, and Spokane Transit Authority is seen as a model for mid-sized transit agencies across the country.

Now, voters in Spokane County have an opportunity to fund their mighty transit service with a 0.2% sales tax renewal on their August 4th ballot. Since the previous ballot measure passed in 2016, Spokane has added more frequent routes, increased bus service by 35%, launched the City Line Bus Rapid Transit, enacted tap-to-pay years before agencies west of the mountains, and made transit free for everyone under the age of 19. Because of that, ridership is up on bus routes across Spokane, recovering and surpassing pre-pandemic ridership.

That’s why the Yes for Buses campaign is encouraging Spokane voters to renew a sales tax that helps fund Spokane Transit Authority for the next 20 years by voting Yes on STA Proposition 1. This is not a tax increase. It commits the region to supporting STA for the next two decades and provides the funding to implement their Connect 2035 plan.

https://www.theurbanist.org/op-ed-spokane-transit/