School buses help Mason Transit boost service in lean budget year

DUGGAN KINNE, FOR THE OLYMPIAN

"This project with the Shelton School District is the first part of what we hope to be a coordinated transportation plan. It takes more than roads and bridges to make a community livable."-- Dave O'Connell, Mason Transit director

SHELTON -- Mason Transit director Dave O'Connell says Mason County doesn't need mass transit.

"In a small rural county like Mason, the traditional mass-transit solutions aren't appropriate," O'Connell said. "We need to develop a more flexible approach to ensure all the community's transportation needs are met."

One way of doing this is to coordinate services with other local transportation providers ,and that's what Mason Transit has just started doing with the Shelton School District.

On Sept. 6, the transit district began using school buses to provide two additional routes that help students and other riders make connections with regular Mason Transit routes.

For example. the new routes enable Shelton middle and high school students to stay after school for sports and other activities and still get a ride home.

"Although it's only been a little more than a week, one route has about a dozen regular student riders, and the other, six or seven," said Sandi Jones, transportation director for the Shelton School District. "We're bringing people into town on the way back as well."

This pilot project, which will last throughout the school year, was funded by a $44,000 grant from the Agency Council on Coordinated Transportation, a multi-agency state group that encourages local transportation systems to improve services and reduce costs by coordinating services.

"There are a lot of institutional barriers to coordinating transportation services," ACCT staff member Gordon Kirkemo said. "A classic, though exaggerated, example is when two vans of different colors arrive to pick up two different family members, neither of whom is eligible to ride in the other van.

ACCT administrator Jeanne Ward said, "All sorts of public programs have their own transportation services. Some operate their own vehicles, while others have contracts. With central coordination, there would be one place to call, and it wouldn't matter whose vehicle picked you up."

O'Connell said the passage of I-695 and the significant loss of revenues to transit systems has made it necessary to help the community understand how transportation works.

"This project with the Shelton School District is the first part of what we hope to be a coordinated transportation plan," he said.

"It takes more than roads and bridges to make a community livable."

Ward said Mason Transit is ahead of the curve on coordination.

"As far as transit systems go, Mason Transit is unique," Ward said.

"They are much more active in pursuing an integration of transportation services than a lot of transit companies. They are heading in absolutely the right direction."

Duggan Kinne is a correspondent for The Olympian.

How it works

The two new routes begin at 5 p.m. on every full school day. They are using school district buses and drivers and have magnetic "Mason Transit" signs attached to their sides.

One route goes to Hoodsport, with stops along the way; the other to Kamilche, also with several scheduled stops. The routes and stop points are flexible, according to passenger needs.

-- Marsha (acorn_nut@msn.com), October 05, 2000

Answers

Hooray! Good for Mason County and its taxpayers. However, I am concerned that the program uses school buses, since a recent article in the paper suggested that [diesel-powered] school buses are significantly more harmful to the environment than other types of vehicles.

-- Matthew M. Warren (mattinsky@msn.com), October 06, 2000.

Sheesh, school buses for adults? And I thought the Metro's Bus Tunnel buses were uncomfortable.

-- Jim Cusick (jc.cusick@gte.net), October 06, 2000.

School buses provide far more passenger miles annually than conventional transit, at a fraction of the cost. Why is that? No transit unions, lots of part-time drivers.

-- (mark842@hotmail.com), October 06, 2000.

"School buses provide far more passenger miles annually than conventional transit, at a fraction of the cost. Why is that? "

Because children can't drive a car?

-- Jim Cusick (jc.cusick@gte.net), October 06, 2000.