Epic Transit Journey – The Columbia Basin to the Yakima Valley to the Kittitas Valley

(If you’re new to the blog, I recommend reading my post on the last Epic Transit Journey I took.) Earlier this week, I shared the news about a brand new bus route linking the cities of Yakima and Ellensburg (click the link to see the schedule and map at the end of the post). Since [...]

Regional Commuter Pass

If you read my last post, you may recall me mentioning a monthly pass for the Yakima-Ellensburg Commuter. The pass itself costs $100 per month, and allows the holder unlimited rides on the Yakima-Ellensburg Commuter, as well as all other Yakima Transit routes and the Central Transit route in Ellensburg. What’s interesting about the Yakima-Ellensburg [...]

Route 11: Yakima-Ellensburg Commuter

On Monday, 11/28/11, a new bus route will start running. And this is a pretty big bus route. For the first time, the cities of Yakima and Ellensburg will be linked together by fixed-route transit service. For several years (maybe even longer), there have been multiple proposals to link these two cities via transit. As [...]

Transit Smartcards (I Have To Pay $5?!)

As many a “transit nerd” knows, more and more transit agencies are rolling out smartcards. Rather than using the older-style “flash passes,” these cards function much like a credit card, storing either an “e-purse” or a pass. These systems help cut down time wasted on cash fumbling and can help improve ridership. In the Seattle [...]

The Finished Product (A New Ben Franklin Transit)

If you follow me on Twitter or read the posts here on the blog, you know how I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking away on what to do with BFT. More specifically, what to do to make BFT better. Obviously, I’m not a “real” transit planner. However, anyone and everyone has ideas, and [...]

More Service For No Cost*

It’s a simple idea. In order to bring better, or rather, “more” service, a sacrifice has to be made. I’m looking at you mid-day… The issue is that demand for bus service at mid-day is not as high as it is during the peak hours. If you look at the 22 bus routes that currently exist [...]