NorthwestJanuary 4, 2004

Bus service may start Jan. 20

MOSCOW -- A new free public bus service is expected to begin serving Moscow residents Jan. 20.

The time is tentative, as are the routes, says Tom LaPointe, executive director of Valley Transit at Lewiston and Clarkston.

The routes are being designed now by a committee of about a dozen residents ranging from students to senior citizens and the business community.

"This is very rudimentary, the slow beginning of public transportation," says LaPointe. "We know we will make mistakes and ask people to bear with us."

The expectation is the initial routes will be timed each half hour, in comparison to the hour-long routes in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

Everything can't be fitted into those half-hour routes, he says.

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"The trouble in general with transit is everyone wants to be served, but funds are finite."

A subcommittee of the Moscow Transportation Commission is looking at all the demographics and data, including student residential centers and the location of medical and business services such as grocery stores.

Two 25-passenger buses have been purchased. They cost about $140,000 -- $31,000 from the University of Idaho and the city of Moscow and the rest state and federal money.

Administration will be through Valley Transit's Lewiston office.

Rides will be free for two reasons: to encourage ridership and because it can cost more to process the fares than what is collected, LaPointe says, especially since there isn't a full-time office staff at Moscow.

The fare system in the valley is being evaluated to see if it's worthwhile, he says. Many riders don't pay because they receive services from one of the agencies that applied for the original HUD grants. Among the goals then and now is to get people off welfare rolls, to jobs and to medical or other necessary services.

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