Transit Board gets first look at Sunday bus service proposal
A lineup of Gillig buses at Kitsap Transit’s Charleston Base.
Later this year, Kitsap Transit plans to start up Sunday bus service with fixed route and on-demand bus services, pending the recruitment of more bus operators.
A proposal presented to the Kitsap Transit Board on Tuesday envisions the service running from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM and rolled out across the county in three phases: Bremerton in August; Silverdale, Poulsbo and Port Orchard in December; and Bainbridge Island in February 2024.
Kitsap Transit shut down Sunday bus service in 2009 during the Great Recession, which cut deep into sales-tax revenue. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the transit agency had completed an overhaul of its fixed-route network and was poised to increase service levels. The pandemic wreaked havoc on transit ridership and reduced the number of bus operators locally and nationally. The Board made it a priority for Kitsap Transit to bring back Sunday service in 2023.
Operations Director Michael Bozarth told the Board the agency needs 43 bus operators to resume pre-pandemic service levels and add Sunday service. Kitsap Transit has launched a new operator recruitment campaign – new hires can receive up to a $7,000 hiring bonus.
As currently envisioned, the Sunday fixed-route service in Bremerton would consist of Route 217— Bremerton/Silverdale East running every half-hour. In the second phase, Route 8—Bethel would run every half-hour in Port Orchard and Route 332—Poulsbo/Silverdale every 60 minutes. In the third phase, Route 390—Poulsbo/Bainbridge would run every 60 minutes.
Kitsap Transit’s proposed Sunday service includes on-demand service, similar in style to its rideshare services (BI Ride, Kingston Ride, SK Ride) that operate in defined service areas in Kitsap County. The public will be able to request bus pick-ups and drop-offs through a mobile app or a call center.
Kitsap Transit has piloted the Ride Pingo app by The Routing Company on its BI Ride service and is testing the Rides on Demand app by TripSpark on its Kingston Ride and SK Ride services. Kitsap Transit plans to procure an on-demand software to support the Sunday service.