SEQUIM — Mayor Pro Tem Laura Dubois, who frequently takes the Clallam Transit bus to City Hall, said that despite the cut of Saturday service, the new Sequim shuttle is an improvement in both efficiency and convenience.
The new, reduced shuttle No. 40 route starts service Monday in Sequim.
“Basically, it runs east-west rather than in a loop,” said Dubois, who has served for three years as a transit board member for the city of Sequim.
The new shuttle route now allows riders to stay on the shuttle to go to Walmart, for example, eliminating a transfer from the No. 40 shuttle to the No. 30 commuter bus to Port Angeles.
“The Sequim shuttle is the most expensive and has the lowest ridership,” Dubois said.
To save the underused and expensive shuttle route, the transit board cut about 55 hours a week of total Sequim service, eliminating Saturday shuttle service, for a savings of about $185,000, said Transit Operations Manager Clint Wetzel.
About 26 hours of shuttle service was cut by redoing the route, he said.
The cuts were warranted by low ridership, he said.
Wetzel said the monthly average ridership Saturdays was 2.9 people per trip for the 1 p.m. route, with weekday service running at about 2.3 people per trip.
Clallam Transit officials and Dubois hope ridership will climb with the route that stops at most of the largest apartment complexes around Sequim and now extends service to North Rhodefer Road on the east side of town.
Dubois said the route will run hourly to most major stops, including the Sequim Public Library and the North Fifth Avenue medical offices.
“If I want to go to City Hall and back, this is an improvement,” Dubois said, adding she lives about a mile from city offices.
Bruce Monroe, shuttle bus driver, has more than 20 years of driving experience.
Youth and senior rider fares are $1, adults at $1.50 and day passes $3.
Clallam Transit General Manager Terry Weed said the cuts to Sequim transit service amount to about 5 percent overall.
The Sequim to Diamond Point route was the other lower ridership run to be cut from Saturdays and reduced in hours during the week.
The Saturday dial-a-ride service will be expanded to include areas affected by the elimination of the No. 40.
“We have to cut it back, but we did improve it because we took it out to Walmart,” Dubois said, adding that residents at the 118-unit Vintage at Sequim Apartments on Brackett Road can take the shuttle to Walmart instead of walking on narrow Brackett Road and crossing Priest Road to get to the Walmart shopping center.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
