SPOT Bus is doing well in Boundary County

July 15, 2015

by McKenzie MacDonald Since mid-April, the SPOT bus has been providing public transportation for citizens of Bonners Ferry. SPOT stands for Selkirks-Pend Oreille Transit and these buses have routes throughout Sandpoint, Dover, Ponderay, Kootenai and now Bonners Ferry. The purpose – to provide “reliable, efficient and FREE public bus service,” says the SPOT Bus website. Until the SPOT Bus, “Boundary County was the only county in the state of Idaho that didn’t have public transportation,” said Marion Johnson, SPOT Bus system manager. For that reason, it was important to both our County Commissioners and the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) to get public transportation to our citizens. In Bonners Ferry, the SPOT Bus is a “door-to-door service,” said Ms. Johnson. To make reservations, a person simply has to call the night before they want a ride. “We come to your house, pick you up, and take you where you want to go,” she said. The SPOT Bus operates three days a week in Bonners Ferry – Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday and Friday, the bus stays in the Bonners Ferry city limits, but on Thursday it takes passengers to Sandpoint. On Thursday, the bus begins picking up passengers at Three Mile and then continues to pick up more passengers along the way. When asked about the number of riders, Ms. Johnson said that ridership has been “awesome!” For the two weeks it operated in April, the bus boarded 58 passengers; 90 passengers in May, and in June, 107. For only having eight seats and only operating three days per week, Ms. Johnson is very excited about those numbers. So far, Ms. Johnson is happy to report that she is having hardly any difficulties with the SPOT Bus operation here in Boundary County. For much of that, she credits the SPOT Bus board that has been established here. The board features quite a few members, including a county commissioner and a city councilman, as well as members from the Kootenai Tribe and the Restorium. This board is “a good cross-section of Bonners,” Ms. Johnson states. With ridership building every month, Ms. Johnson has great expectations for Bonners Ferry’s SPOT Bus. She is “looking to grow” and is hoping to increase operation to four days a week. She has also applied for funding to purchase a second bus. Due to the operation’s grant-based nature, she will know in a couple of weeks whether we will be able to get a second bus for the 2016 grant year.