Frequently Asked Questions

STA Mov­ing For­ward is the region’s 10-year plan that aims to main­tain, improve and expand tran­sit ser­vices through­out the tran­sit ser­vice area to meet the needs of our grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty. The plan is made up of more than 25 projects to be imple­ment­ed over the next decade.

By expand­ing and improv­ing pub­lic trans­porta­tion in Spokane Coun­ty, STAMF advances com­mu­ni­ty devel­op­ment and eco­nom­ic growth. The projects includ­ed in STAMF will bet­ter con­nect our cit­i­zens to jobs, expe­ri­ences, and ser­vices through­out the Spokane region.

The HPT Net­work is a sys­tem of all-day, two-way, reli­able and fre­quent tran­sit cor­ri­dors. It will offer speeds that are com­pet­i­tive with pri­vate auto­mo­biles and fea­ture improved ameni­ties for pas­sen­gers includ­ing real-time trav­el­er infor­ma­tion, off-board fare col­lec­tion and enhanced stations.

As a whole, the HPT will pro­vide a high­er lev­el of mobil­i­ty, allow­ing cus­tomers greater access to the pub­lic trans­porta­tion sys­tem and the abil­i­ty to reach more des­ti­na­tions. The essen­tial goal of the HPT Net­work is to estab­lish a high­er lev­el of con­nec­tiv­i­ty. Bus, para­tran­sit and van­pool ser­vices will con­tin­ue to be pro­vid­ed, but with enhanced efficiency.

West Plains Tran­sit Cen­ter (WPTC)

In the sum­mer of 2017, STA broke ground of a new tran­sit cen­ter locat­ed at Exit 272 of I-90. Cur­rent­ly, rid­ers must trav­el to Down­town Spokane in order to make a con­nec­tion to any of the cities on the West Plains. Due for com­ple­tion in 2018, this facil­i­ty will allow rid­ers to change bus­es on the West Plains and will include a park and ride for com­muters, uti­liz­ing exist­ing ser­vice between Spokane and Cheney.

Cen­tral City Line (CCL)

The Cen­tral City Line (CCL) will be a new six-mile bus route between Browne’s Addi­tion and Spokane Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege (SCC), con­nect­ing through Down­town Spokane, the Uni­ver­si­ty Dis­trict and Gon­za­ga Uni­ver­si­ty (GU). The project is the Spokane community’s response to its desire for a tran­sit cir­cu­la­tor in the urban core. CCL vehi­cles will be mod­ern, rub­ber-tired, and bat­tery elec­tric with zero-emis­sions, recharge­able through induc­tive or con­duc­tive tech­nol­o­gy. It will com­bine speed and effi­cien­cy with the cost effec­tive­ness and flex­i­bil­i­ty of envi­ron­men­tal­ly respon­si­ble buses. 

The CCL will be scaled appro­pri­ate­ly to meet the needs of Spokane’s region­al pop­u­la­tion which is pro­ject­ed to grow by approx­i­mate­ly 120,000 by 2040. The CCL is pro­ject­ed to increase sur­round­ing land and improve­ment val­ue by $175 million. 

Ser­vice changes occur every four months as means of mak­ing incre­men­tal route and time-point changes in the inter­est of effi­cien­cy and reli­a­bil­i­ty. Many of the major ser­vice revi­sions includ­ed in the STAMF plan, such as new routes, extend­ed lines, or more fre­quent ser­vice on cer­tain routes will coin­cide with ser­vice changes so that major changes go into effect at the same time that rou­tine ser­vice revi­sions occur. The STAMF ini­tia­tives includ­ed in the 2017 ser­vice changes are list­ed below: 

May 2017:

• Extend­ing Sat­ur­day night ser­vice past 11pm 
• Increas­ing week­end ser­vice on Welles­ley Avenue 
• Adding Rt. 95 to ser­vice East Indi­ana Ave. and East Broadway. 
• Increas­ing fre­quen­cy of bus­es to Air­way Heights on weekends. 

Sep­tem­ber 2017:

• Extend­ing Route 28 Neva­da to the end of the line 7-days a week 

• Intro­duc­ing Route 172 Lib­er­ty Lake Express route 

• Adding 30-minute, mid-week­day ser­vice to the renamed Route 74 Mirabeau/Liberty Lake 

• Improv­ing on-time per­for­mance and pas­sen­ger ameni­ties on Route 90 Sprague Avenue and Route 25 Division 

• Increas­ing fre­quen­cy on Route 24 Mon­roe on weekends 

2018

• Night and week­end ser­vice on Rt. 95 Mid-Valley 

• Night and week­end ser­vice to Indi­an Trail 

• Com­ple­tion of the West Plains Tran­sit Center 

2019

• Improved ser­vice and ameni­ties on North Mon­roe Street to South Regal 

• Com­ple­tion of the new Moran Prairie Park and Ride 

• Devel­op a South Com­muter Express from the Moran Prairie Park and Ride 

• Com­plet­ed con­struc­tion of the Upriv­er Tran­sit Cen­ter at Spokane Com­mu­ni­ty College

The plan is pri­mar­i­ly fund­ed by a vot­er-approved 0.2% increase in the local sales and use tax in 2016. In addi­tion to that local rev­enue, Spokane Tran­sit will fund the STA Mov­ing For­ward plan in three ways: 

• Com­pete for state and fed­er­al grants 

• Receive more rev­enue from increased ridership 

• Raise fares peri­od­i­cal­ly as the cost of pro­vid­ing tran­sit increases