BOISE, Idaho — Valley Regional Transit (VRT) is a vital resource for those who depend on public transportation. The public agency is currently working to make improvements to the bus system.
Valley Regional Transit CEO Elain Clegg says that the public has been vocal about the change that they want to see.
“We've heard concerns about losing service in this change," said Clegg. "But we also heard support for gaining service in places that don't have it today and gaining better service in places that do.”
VRT has been taking public input for the bus system for the past couple of months, creating new routes riders could choose from. Now they're in the process of finalizing a plan.
“We got a lot of really good input because I think the way we built those scenarios really showed people what those choices were pretty starkly.” Clegg says.
Liam Johnson takes the bus every so often and says that he's had overall good experiences but would like to see stops closer to his destination.
“Sometimes it takes a while but that's not really a problem but if I want to go to half-price books next to the village it's not close to a stop,” says Johnson.
For people whose destination isn't near a bus stop, they have to walk the final leg.
And for new riders, like Mekaela Thomas, learning the system can be a little challenging at first.
“Online you can get a digital card or transit card with a little sleeve holder so it's pretty easy," Thomas says. "They're pretty direct I have like 18 pamphlets of all the different routes some even go from Meridian to Nampa all the way to Caldwell even,”
Valley Regional transit plans to implement these service changes by the summer of 2024.
