A public bus service centralized in Ninilchik may begin providing transportation from Homer to Kenai and Soldotna as early as June.
Darrel Williams with the Ninilchik Traditional Council, says the bus route services will begin after they receive a $300,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration. Costs to passengers are still being figured.
Williams: “We’re thinking probably about three to five dollars and we’re working on our costs analysis on the project because we want to be able to subsidize this as much as we can to be able to make it a service to the community. Our intention is not to make money but we also want to be able to provide a sustainable service.”
After the grant funding is released to the Council in April or May, the organization is looking to add several 15-passenger buses to the 4,000 square foot transit building they’ve constructed in Ninilchik.
Williams says the plan is to initially offer two fixed route services from their Ninilchik office: one south, between Ninilchik and Homer; and one north, between Ninilchik, Kenai, and Soldotna
Williams: “This would be a bus that would go from, for example, a pickup place in Soldotna to a drop-off place in Kenai. Or from a pickup place in Kenai to somewhere in K-Beach, that kind of thing, as a scheduled service.”
Williams says the aim of the services is to help people who cannot or do not want to drive to be able to engage in commerce, access healthcare and take care of errands.