C-Tran is planning to make changes to several of its routes and bus schedules this September.
“The changes are designed to match agency resources to system demands, work toward the goals of the 20-year plan and improve efficiency and quality of service,” spokeswoman Christine Selk said in an email. “I would not qualify the service change as substantial, when compared with the changes we made in September 2016.”
Those changes were the largest in a decade, affecting nearly 375 bus stops and 18 routes, and were coordinated to prepare riders for the opening of The Vine.
The C-Tran Board of Directors approved the latest changes July 10.
Route 7, which runs from Battle Ground to the Vancouver Mall Transit Center, will run with greater frequency on weekdays. Buses will run every 30 minutes rather than every 45 minutes. In the future, C-Tran will consider making service changes to weekends as well.
Route 32, which runs between the 99th Street Transit Center, downtown Vancouver and the Vancouver Mall Transit Center, will be split into two routes.
The new Route 31 will run between the 99th Street Transit Center and downtown Vancouver, while Route 32 will run between downtown Vancouver and the Vancouver Mall Transit Center. The same bus will serve both routes, however, as if the original route was not separated. Passengers won’t have to get off or get a transfer if they want to ride from the Vancouver Mall to 99th Street.
C-Tran officials say they’re splitting the route because it essentially operates as two different routes already.
Most riders on both ends typically get off downtown, rather than riding from one end to the other. By making it two routes, C-Tran believes it’ll make the bus schedule easier to read for passengers. For its part, C-Tran expects to get better ridership data.
“Splitting them will allow us to take a good look at the separate segments and make it easier for us to determine future tweaks that need to be made,” Selk said.
Get going earlier
Route 60, which runs from downtown Vancouver to Delta Park in Portland, will begin earlier, starting at 6:04 a.m.
Route 92, which runs from Fisher’s Landing Transit Center to Camas and Washougal, will be rerouted to offer two direct service trips to Washougal High School. During those modified trips, Addy Street in Washougal won’t be served.
The La Center and Midday Connector will provide increased hours of service by starting earlier in the day.
Route 73, which runs a loop around Vancouver Mall, will be canceled. C-Tran created the route after moving the Vancouver Mall Transit Center from the north side to the south side of Vancouver Mall. It was meant to assist people with mobility issues get to the new location. However, C-Tran officials say ridership is only one to two boardings per day.
C-Tran will release more details about the changes in the upcoming weeks after schedules are finalized.
