WA: Getting There: STA highlights service to Spokane airport with new line starting Sept. 21

Spokane Transit Authority's new CEO doesn't hesitate when asked why someone might prefer taking a bus to the airport.

"Do you want to save $50?" CEO Karl Otterstrom said, noting the potential cost of taking a taxi, Uber or Lyft to catch a flight.

STA will roll out a new line, Route 7, to the Spokane International Airport on Sept. 21. Instead of starting at the downtown STA Plaza as the current line does, the new route starts at the Liberty Lake Park and Ride. In between, stops include the Mirabeau Transit Center, the Spokane Valley Mall and the STA Plaza, but much of the line is on the freeway.

Otterstrom said he takes the bus to the airport for trips sometimes, and he encourages other travelers if it works for their flight times. (Yes, riders can bring luggage aboard). But the more important reason for public transportation, including to the airport, is workers.

"So much of its ridership and its success are people who are making regular trips to their jobs or to school," Otterstrom said. "So we always see that as the core investment, access to jobs in that area."

Those on the North Side or South Hill still will need two rides to get to the airport, transferring to the airport bus at STA Plaza.

At the airport, riders can transfer to Route 63, with service to the Amazon Fulfillment Center and other businesses adjacent to the Geiger Boulevard exit of Interstate 90.

Like now, a bus will arrive at the airport every half hour for most of the day on weekdays and hourly on the weekends, said Carly Cortright, communications and customers service officer.

The first bus on the longer route from Liberty Lake will arrive at 5:39 a.m. on weekdays. That's 45 minutes earlier than the current weekday bus arrives.

That weekday westbound bus will start in Liberty Lake at 4:51 a.m.

Eastbound buses will start at the airport at 6 a.m., 11 minutes earlier than the current airport bus starts.

Last year, an average of 75 people got on the bus daily at the airport's two stops on the current line, Route 60, according to STA's annual ridership report. An average of 64 a day exited at the airport. The route provided 119,000 rides last year.

Otterstrom said the longer route will use a regular-sized bus, not one of STA's new double -deckers, which will begin carrying riders later this month.

But STA will consider the line a "high performance transit corridor," so some of the stops on Route 7 eventually will be equipped with signs providing real-time data on when the next buses arrive, he said.

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