WA: Beloved Olympia bus route ends this weekend. 270 signed a petition to save it

A social media fan page has been dedicated to Bus Route 41, the long-time Intercity Transit route that travels between downtown Olympia, the west side on Division Street and The Evergreen State College.

A final ride of the beloved route has been scheduled for Saturday, May 2, to celebrate the legacy of Bus Route 41 before the route changes the next day. The route is being replaced with two separate routes, the 32 and the 34.

The 32 will go from the Evergreen State College to the Capital Mall, and then turn back. The 34 will go to the Capital Mall and then become the 9X, before going through downtown.

The celebration of the bus route will take place from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at McCann Plaza on the Evergreen State College campus.

Spencer Zeman, Intercity Transit Bus Stop Program Coordinator, said during an April 20 City of Olympia Planning Commission meeting that Intercity Transit is undergoing its first-ever full system redesign. He said the plan was 10 years in the making, and it will bring service to sections of the county and community that have not received them previously.

“We’re reframing certain corridors to prioritize movement through areas and then shifting a small amount of that to expand to new developing areas where we’re seeing a lot of growth in infill, specifically with residential populations as well as focusing on hospitals and schools with the service change,” he said.

The Route 41 change has some residents concerned that they won’t be able to access downtown Olympia as easily. According to previous reporting from The Olympian, an online petition has been created requesting that IT retain Bus Route 41. The petition has received 270 signatures as of April 30, with a goal of 500 signatures. Specific changes mentioned

Zeman reviewed a number of changes to IT’s system at the April 20 Planning Commission meeting. The 9X is being launched as IT’s first attempt at Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Zeman said. He said it is an express line that will “serve as the system’s backbone,” providing limited-stop service east to west through the entire service zone.

He said it will have a minimum of four buses an hour and will stop at 17 spots east to west with minimal dwell time.

Zeman also said Route 94 is being eliminated, meaning direct service from the Olympia Transit Center to the Amtrak station is gone, though service to the Lacey Transit Center will remain. A permanent BRT station is being constructed at 4th and Washington, which is expected to be completed later in the summer, he said.

In an interview with The Olympian on April 30, council member Robert Vanderpool, who sits on the Intercity Transit board, said he’s been hearing from folks since the fall who are concerned about the changes coming to the 41 route. He said it started with students at Evergreen, but once the plans were approved, he began hearing from countless residents in the area.

He said their biggest concern is the direct connection to downtown from the west side of Olympia.

“Almost all the west side routes will hub at the mall and then go downtown,” he said. “There is this nervousness that they would be losing the connection to downtown Olympia that the 41 currently does.”

Vanderpool said the change is being seen as inconvenient and inaccessible by those who have lived along the route for years and rely on public transportation to live their lives. He said there are seniors who live along the route who have reached out with concerns about mobility issues and the inconvenience of changing buses.

Vanderpool said the route is changing on Sunday, but the system redesign won’t be complete until the fall. He said there’s still time for people to voice their concerns and provide comments to the city and IT regarding the changes, good or bad.

He said he’s asked that Intercity Transit staff continue to take feedback and listen to the community regarding these changes and consider other options when possible.

“If it turns out we need to make adjustments, particularly with that route or any other route in the system, we need those options in front of us,” Vanderpool said. “Because changes like this don’t come along very often, right? Some of these routes are very old, and if we’re making these changes, we have to make sure that we make adjustments to ensure that people can still access the bus.”

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