A C-Tran bus passes a Sinclair gas station near Fisher's Landing Transit Center on Tuesday morning. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian)
With The Vine on Mill Plain, C-Tran’s second bus rapid transit route, and its Mill Plain Transit Center on track to open as soon as September, C-Tran staff unveiled a handful of service change proposals at the April board of directors meeting.
If approved at the June 13 meeting, the proposed changes would take effect this fall.
The bulk of the proposed changes directly ties into the new services and improve regional connections, like Route 41 extending to Camas and Washougal and Route 48 extending to ilani, for example.
Here are specific proposals:
The Vine on Mill Plain: When the second line of The Vine opens it will replace Route 37, which currently operates along the Mill Plain corridor. The Vine will stretch from downtown Vancouver to the new Mill Plain Transit Center, 601 S.E. 184th Ave.
Similar to the Fourth Plain Vine, it will have 15-minute intervals at most hours of the day, seven days a week.
The route was to begin service by the end of November, but because construction is ahead of schedule and under budget, C-Tran staff believes it will be open for service in September.
Route 30: Route 30 will be rerouted to serve the Mill Plain Transit Center and will no longer serve the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center.
The proposed route offers a direct connection between Clark College’s main campus and its Columbia Tech Center location.
Routes 34 and 35: Two new routes would offer service between the Mill Plain Transit Center and Fisher’s Landing Transit Center.
Route 34 would operate via 192nd Avenue and 34th Street and Route 35 would use 164th Avenue and Mill Plain Boulevard.
The proposed routes would operate at 30-minute intervals during peak periods, however, using an offset schedule, connections between the two transit centers could be made every 15 minutes.
Route 37: Route 37, which primarily operates on Mill Plain, would be discontinued and replaced by The Vine.
Route 41: C-Tran proposes extending Route 41 — which today operates between downtown Vancouver and Fisher’s Landing along Highway 14 — to Camas and Washougal. Buses would continue to stop at the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center.
The route is designed to operate as a limited stop trip offering faster service between east and west Clark County.
Route 48: Route 48, which connects Hazel Dell and Ridgefield, would extend north to ilani. Morning and night schedules would be adjusted, better corresponding with rider demand.
The extension would lessen demand on The Current. The highest ridership origins and destinations on The Current are the Junction Park & Ride in Ridgefield and ilani.
Route 60: C-Tran will propose schedule and pattern adjustments to Route 60, serving downtown Vancouver and Delta Park in Portland.
Route 74: Route 74, which currently goes from the Vancouver Mall Transit Center to Northeast 152nd Avenue between Northeast Padden Parkway and Northeast Ward Road, would be extended to the Mill Plain Transit Center along Northeast 162nd and Southeast First Street.
The one-way loop on Northeast 162nd and Northeast Ward Road would no longer be served.
The proposed route fills a long-existing gap between 162nd and Fourth Plain.
Route 92: The route currently connects the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center to Washougal. The proposal realigns the route to serve the Mill Plain Transit Center via 192nd Avenue.
How to comment
Public feedback on the proposed changes can be submitted in several ways:
At an open house from 4:30-6:30 p.m. May 2 at the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center.
At 5:30 p.m. May 9 at the C-Tran Board of Directors meeting, 10600 N.E. 51st Circle.
Send email to proposal@c-tran.com. Post mail can be sent to C-Tran Service Change Feedback, 10600 N.E. 51st Circle, Vancouver, WA 98682.
The deadline to submit feedback is noon Tuesday, May 9.
This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.
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