PORT ANGELES — The Clallam Transit System has been awarded almost $4 million in grants spread over the next four years from the state Department of Transportation, general manager Jim Fetzer said.
The funding will support the Strait Shot, the Route 16 Clallam Bay-Neah Bay route and paratransit needs.
Commissioners on Wednesday unanimously approved a contract of $135,000 with Olympic Community of Health for Clallam Transit to provide up to three rideshare vans for individuals participating in North Olympic Recompete Plan Coalition programs.
The coalition received $35 million in August 2024 from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to invest in infrastructure, innovation and workforce training to create living-wage jobs in the timber and marine industries. Lack of reliable transportation on the Peninsula had been identified as one of the barriers to employment.
Olympic Community of Health is one of the Recompete coalition partners.
Meanwhile, transit operations manager Jason McNickle said ridership on the Hurricane Ridge Shuttle, which resumed operations May 24, is about 64 percent over last year.
The on-demand Interlink service that allows individuals to book shared rides within a designated area remained extremely popular, McNickle said. Monthly ridership increased 8 percent in Forks and 37 percent in Sequim compared with May 2024.
McNickle noted that two individuals were excluded from buses in May for assault, one of whom had received three in that month alone.
“We have a code of conduct they have to abide by, and if they go beyond that, depending on the context, it could be a verbal warning or, in the case of assaults, then exclusions, which is 30 days for the first event,” McNickle said.
That could elevate to 60 days, 90 days and even lifetime exclusion for a serious event, McNickle said.
Board vice chair Jeff Gingell said he didn’t like the idea of repeat offenders getting an opportunity to ride the bus again.
“The second time they shouldn’t be able to get back on if they’re assaulting people,” Gingell said. “I don’t say this lightly because people depend on the bus for transportation, but in the case of violence, that’s an exception.”
McNickle said he was open to reexamining the exclusion policy, although Rick Burton, who represents bus drivers on the board, was hesitant to call for revisions.
“You have to be consistent with the punishment,” Burton said. “You have to make sure that if you do it for one, you have a system where you do it that way for everyone else.”
The system’s rules of conduct can be found at tinyurl.com/yth8w9ez.
Fetzer presented a draft of the 2025-2030 Transit Development Plan for commissioners’ review and feedback at their Aug. 27 meeting. The plan, which the state Department of Transportation requires agencies to update and resubmit ever year, contains Clallam Transit System’s accomplishments and forecasts for the upcoming year, including a project with Jefferson Transit Authority to construct a park and ride at the Olympic Peninsula Gateway Visitors Center in Port Ludlow, expanding microtransit services and possible transit service to La Push, Rialto Beach and the Hoh Rain Forest.
A public hearing on the plan is scheduled during the board’s regular meeting at noon on Aug. 27.
Board chair Mark Ozias suggested that, in the future, the system should conduct public outreach to let people know about the plan and to solicit feedback.
“We might want to start thinking about whether there are any audiences we could proactively go out and make presentations to,” he said. “There is so much momentum and so many new things we’re thinking about as an agency, and things have changed substantially over the past few years.”
The Forks, Port Angeles and Sequim-Dungeness Valley chambers of commerce and the West End Business and Professional Organization were among the groups recommended.
The Transit Development Plan can be found on page 86 of the board’s June 18 meeting packet at tinyurl.com/57rxyymw.
In other news, the board recognized maintenance manager Gary Abrams for his 30 years with the system. Abrams began as a maintenance worker on June 27, 1995.
The board also accepted the resignation of Port Angeles City Council member Brendan Meyer, who announced they are stepping down from the council at the end of June.
The meeting was Fetzer’s last as general manager. He is retiring on July 31 after six years with Clallam Transit.
McNickle will become interim general manager on Aug. 1.
No board meeting will be conducted in July. Commissioners will next convene on Aug. 27.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
