Anchorage transit officials are in the final stages of evaluating proposed changes to the city bus system, including cuts for routes through the Spenard neighborhood and Eagle River, that would take effect June 1.
The bus system, People Mover, first unveiled the changes in early January as part of a system-wide assessment that happens each year. The most significant proposals involve boosting service to Northeast Anchorage routes and eliminating part of a route that runs to the Spenard Recreation Center in West Anchorage. Officials also want to cut service to Peters Creek from a route through Eagle River.
Other, smaller changes are in the works, modifying travel times and evening service across the system. After a month-long public comment period, and some pushback from neighborhoods seeing cuts, officials are reviewing feedback and preparing to make a final presentation to the city's Public Transit Advisory Board next week.
The proposals come as the bus service grapples with declining ridership. A fare increase took effect at the start of 2014. During the year, the system saw ridership decrease 3.5 percent compared to 2013, said Lance Wilber, Anchorage's transportation director.
But low ridership isn't the problem on Route 45 through Northeast Anchorage, which is by far the most popular route in the city, Wilber said. The problem, Wilber said, is that there isn't enough room. Buses are packed and sometimes riders are left at the stop.
To relieve congestion, officials had proposed adding service to Route 45 on weekday evenings and on Saturday. In Mountain View, Route 8 would gain stops on Commercial Drive and Mountain View Drive. Buses would deliver riders to the Glenn Square shopping center, a growing commercial district in the neighborhood.
Midday service would also be added to Route 75, which travels from the downtown transit center to the Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Cuts, meanwhile, are on the table for the Spenard neighborhood and for riders heading north of Eagle River. Transit officials want to eliminate about 20 stops on Route 36 through Spenard, which would include service to the Spenard Recreation Center. Service instead would continue along Spenard Road, shaving about five minutes off one of the system's longer routes.
The Spenard proposal is drawing pushback. At the Spenard Community Council meeting Wednesday night, Northwood-Taft area resident Helen Kolbeck said her son, who is disabled and unable to drive, would be among those affected by the change. He takes the bus regularly from one of the stops that would be cut, she said, and it's his main means of independence.
Kolbeck said the route also caters to seniors, who might otherwise have trouble walking six blocks up to Spenard Road, especially in the winter.
Transit officials cited low ridership as the justification for the change. Wilber said the Northwood-Taft portion of the route averages just 24 passengers a day. People who live nearby, meanwhile, said they were unconvinced by the statistics.
"Lots of kids get on and off and go to (the nearby skate park) with their skateboards," said Karen Rolling, who also lives in the neighborhood and opposes the change. "What a time to stop this route, right at the beginning of the summer."
Council President Bob Auth also rides the Northwood section of the route, and said he has for the last two decades. At the end of the meeting, the Spenard council voted unanimously to oppose the route change.
In Eagle River, People Mover is proposing to stop Route 102 to Eagle River at the North Birchwood Park and Ride, discontinuing service to Peters Creek. That proposal too has sparked a frustrated response from community leaders weary of cuts to public transit in the area, signaled by a unanimous resolution of opposition from the Birchwood Community Council.
Within the last four years, Chugiak-Eagle River has lost two bus routes, said Debbie Ossiander, a former Anchorage Assembly member who is now on the Birchwood Community Council board. She said the latest proposed cut is akin to "pouring coals on top of a simmering fire."
"Combined with the fact that there's limited taxi service out here, people just don't have options," Ossiander said.
The Public Transit Advisory Board will be hearing People Mover's final proposal at its meeting Thursday on the ground floor of City Hall. The meeting is open to the public.