Bus service will expand to the Bellingham waterfront starting Sunday, Sept. 22.
The Whatcom Transportation Authority’s Board of Directors approved two new temporary routes on Thursday, Aug. 15, to serve the waterfront from September until June when the authority plans to implement permanent service.
General Manager Les Reardanz said the WTA began looking at waterfront service because they knew the demand was coming. Residents began moving into the Millworks affordable housing complex in May. The first Harcourt condominium units are expected to open in October, with more development coming in the Boardmill Building.
“We can see the current and building wave of commitment,” Reardanz said. “And so the team said, hey let’s take a look at getting out ahead of that wave.”
One of the routes, 46 Granary, would run from Bellingham Station to the Millworks Building on Cornwall Avenue six times a day. The other 47 Harbor Downtown route would run seven times a day from Bellingham Station to Millworks to Squalicum Harbor.
Reardanz said they’ve had conversations with the City of Bellingham about connecting downtown with the waterfront from “an economic development standpoint [and] from a connectivity and a use standpoint.”
He said that the sooner WTA can get people moving back and forth from downtown to the waterfront, “it starts getting people developing transportation behaviors as we work on a longer-term service with that.”
Public comment was in favor of the routes, with some suggesting some minor route alterations. Those suggestions will be factored into planning the permanent route to begin in June, Reardanz said.
Dan Tucker, program manager at the Working Waterfront Coalition, said there’s support from workers on the waterfront for the routes, as it will provide them with an alternative way to get to work.
“We’re in a unique position to boost our working folks along the waterfront that are in these industries that traditionally don’t get downtown services,” Tucker said. “So that will also help vitalize businesses downtown, providing the workers down here with an easy way to go through downtown on their way home.”
The WTA previously had service on the waterfront, but on a different route than the ones proposed this time around and on a more limited schedule. WTA staff said it was canceled because of performance. But Transit Planner Becky Kelly said with the new waterfront development and Millworks, it prompted the authority to look at it again.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
