Bryant Wright, the Planner for the Kenaitze Transportation shared a PowerPoint presentation on the proposed Kahtnu Area Transit at the Challenger Learning Center in Kenai, to give the community an update, as well as gather some input from future riders.
The plan for year one, is to have the two buses work through Kenai and Soldotna during the weekdays.
The buses would run east and west of each other to give travelers more opportunity to choose their preferred route for the day.
“It’s another way of saying you’re reducing wait times to another way of saying you’re making the transit system convenient and fast. The reason it’s not a big loop like this one going clockwise and one going counterclockwise is to add freedom to this system,” said Wright.
The bus running times would be 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. There has not yet been a price listed for travel.
The bus, although not finalized, would have anywhere between 36 to 52 seats on the bus. It will also have over-head compartments to store luggage’s, as well as an area to put bikes.
One of the concerns that has been raised is for individuals who would like to travel further out, to areas such as Nikiski or Sterling. Wright says that if that were to happen, there would need to be some tradeoffs. He says that travel from Nikiski to Kenai may only be 30 minutes, but the round trip would be 60 minutes. It would drastically affect the timetable of the bus getting back and forth to Kenai.
“So that you know 30 to 45 minute frequency that we might be shooting for in Kenai and Soldotna really gets disrupted when we aim for coverage and try a little farther out. They trade off to consider with with this service in year one,” says Wright.
Chelsea Hendriks, the Kenaitze Tribe Program Director says that there has not been a set date for when the busing system will be in service. The Federal Transit Authority (FTA) has to review this plan to ensure that it meets all the qualifications and criteria in order to receive funding. The timeline is dependent on the FTA’s final review.
“They came here in May for an assessment. And so their follow up timeline from their assessment was actually this month. So we have been on hold for quite some time. But I know that they’re short staffed, they have had changeover. So, it’s experienced throughout everywhere, the shortages, so we’re just working with them,” said Hendriks.
The current list of the proposed bus stops is listed above.
To voice your concerns or have any questions, contact Brandi Bell at [email protected] or Bryant Wright at [email protected].
“To see the proposed list of bus stops or to share your input on the bus system, visit this story at radiokenai.com to find contact information for the project managers and planner. “
