Public meetings on Juneau’s proposed Capital Transit plan start Monday

New Capital Transit  routes under the proposed plan. (Map courtesy City and Borough of Juneau)
New Capital Transit routes under the proposed plan. (Map courtesy City and Borough of Juneau)

Capital Transit riders can weigh in on a new proposed bus plan in a series of public meetings that start Monday.

Kirk Duncan, public works director for the City and Borough of Juneau, says he’ll describe the route and service changes at the meetings and people can fill out comment sheets.

“We’re going out and we’re explaining what the plan is. We’re not going back out and saying, ‘Well, do you like Plan A better, or Plan B better or Plan C?’ We’re asking you to comment on this plan,” Duncan says. “And we’re going back to the Assembly on Dec. 8 to say, ‘This is what we heard.’ Because it’s really about, do we implement these plans or do we keep the system that we’ve got?”

Public meetings on Capital Transit route and schedule changes:

  • Monday, Dec. 1, 12 p.m. – Downtown Library
  • Monday, Dec. 1, 4:45 p.m. – Downtown Library
  • Tuesday, Dec. 2, 6:30 p.m. – Valley Library, Mendenhall Mall
  • Wednesday, Dec. 3, 12 p.m. – UAS Egan Lecture Hall
  • Wednesday, Dec. 3, 6:30 p.m. – Douglas Library
  • Thursday, Dec. 4, 12 p.m. – Valley Library, Mendenhall Mall
  • Saturday, Dec. 6, 1:30 p.m. – Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School Library

If you can’t attend, you can be heard by calling 586-BUS1 or emailing capital.transit@juneau.org.

Last week, bus drivers started handing out pamphlets outlining the proposed route and schedule changes to riders. Buses also have signs advertising the public meeting times.

Duncan says changes may mean longer walks to a bus stop. For instance, buses won’t go onto the University of Alaska Southeast campus under the new plan, which a UAS advisory group protests. Instead, riders will have to catch the bus on Back Loop Road, about a third of a mile away.

“Another thing, in order to put time back into the schedule on the Back Loop, we’re moving the transfer center from Nugget Mall to the (Pipeline) Skate Park, and we’re asking people’s comments about that because people at the Nugget Mall will have to walk out to Shell Simmons, so it’s a little bit further walk for them to catch the bus,” Duncan says.

The proposed changes may also mean longer wait times. Right now, a person in downtown Douglas trying to get to the hospital waits 3 to 5 minutes for a transfer at the Federal Building. That would change under the new schedule.

“If you want to go from Douglas to the Valley Local so you can go to the hospital, you’ve got a 23 minute wait. And that’s why it’s important that people read these schedules and understand that. We’re not trying to slip that by anybody; that’s just the way the schedules are structured,” Duncan says.

Changes also include eliminating service through Juneau’s downtown core, adding new service on Riverside Drive and earlier hours.

Capital Transit bus driver Greg McLaughlin says he and other drivers don’t like the new plan.

“It’s got a lot of things that, we know, aren’t going to work and if they implement this schedule, it’ll fall apart,” McLaughlin says.

He says the proposed plan doesn’t provide good service to the community and fears Capital Transit may lose ridership if it goes into effect.

Full disclosure: Kirk Duncan serves on the KTOO Board of Directors.

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