Upcoming Changes To Wenatchee's Link Transit Routes

If you ride Wenatchee's Link Transit, you may want to note some changes to service starting April 3rd.

Buses will run every 30 minutes instead of 60 minutes during day-time hours along these routes:

Route 3 (8 AM to 5 PM weekdays)
Route 7 (8:30 AM to 4:30 PM weekdays)
Route 9 (7:30 AM to 4:30 PM weekdays)

"For the last several months, we've had a 60-minute frequency all day. And that was a reduction in service from what we put in place back in July of last year, " Marketing and Communications Coordinator Erik West said. "We've made a few adjustments, and we have a few more folks available to work."

Minor timing changes to improve reliability will occurs on these routes:

Route 1N
Route 1S
Route 4
Route 5
Route 9
Route 12
Route 21

Additional changes include:

Route 1S: This route will serve a new bus stop on South Wenatchee Avenue near Beuzer Street. The bus stop on Terminal & Mission will no longer be served.
Route 3: The Saddle Rock trailhead bus stop will be “on-call” for all trips. The bus will loop around Central Washington Hospital unless there is a call to serve Saddle Rock trailhead.
Route 8: The 5:30 PM departure from Columbia Station will continue as Route 18.
Route 18: A new trip will be added from Olds Station though East Wenatchee to Wenatchee Valley College at 5:47 PM.
Route 22: Route 22 will again provide access through Leavenworth. On a temporary basis, Route 22 will use Ski Hill Drive and Evans Street to turn around until a proposed new roundabout is constructed at US 2 & Icicle Road. During this time, two bus stops on US 2 west of Ski Hill Drive will be closed, and two new bus stops will be added (Ski Hill Drive & US 2 and Evans & Central Ave).
Route 22S: The shuttle service through Leavenworth is discontinued.
Route 24: This route will provide better access to downtown Wenatchee by serving bus stops on Orondo between Mission Street and Wenatchee Ave.

Despite the upcoming changes, Link Transit will still operate a zero-fare system. Last June, the board made the decision to not charge any rates.

"It just removes the fare pain barrier that a lot of people were up against. If they're riding frequently, and they don't have enough money to pay for a pass ahead of time, that does add up over time, " West said.

With regard to electric vehicles, they're being tested on route 22 and will operate on approximately six roundtrips per weekday, adding five minutes of charging time at Wilkommen Park & Ride before returning to Wenatchee. On trips heading toward Wenatchee, bus stops through Leavenworth will be served five minutes earlier.

"A week or two back, we started on a test basis to see how they would work. And that test basis continues through April to see, as far as charging, what kind of battery life we're looking at, do we need to charge them more frequently than we're anticipating." West said.

Before the changes go into effect, West recommends riders go to the MyStop mobile app so they can have access to all route and schedule information.

For more information on these changes or any other Link Transit service, please contact Link Transit at 509-662-1155.