Capital Transit proposes route change

Capital Transit will hold three meetings this week on a plan to provide bus service on Riverside Drive in the Mendenhall Valley.

Map A represents Routes 3 and 4 currently provided by Capital Transit.
Map A represents Routes 3 and 4 currently provided by Capital Transit.

The Juneau bus system is considering moving some portions of Route 4 off Mendenhall Loop Road and onto the south end of Riverside Drive.

Because Juneau is a linear town with few routes, Capital Transit Superintendent John Kern says there are only so many routes the bus can run.

“With just two routes, Douglas and the Mendenhall Valley, we get within a quarter mile of most of the population, including the origin and destination of our ridership. So the goal in laying out the routes is to keep the bus stop at your origin and destination within a quarter-mile walking distance of where you catch the bus,” Kern says.

The proposal calls for a Mendenhall Valley bus to go down a section of Riverside Drive instead of Mendenhall Loop Road. That would provide service closer to Thunder Mountain High School.

CBJ Planner Ben Lyman says the city wants feedback from bus passengers on the proposed change.

Map B represents a change to Route 4 that would provide service to a portion of Riverside Dr (between Stephen Richards Dr and Mendenhall Mall Rd) while eliminating southbound service from a 1.7-mile portion of Mendenhall Loop Rd (between Stephen Richards Dr and Mendenhall Mall Rd).
Map B represents a change to Route 4 that would provide service to a portion of Riverside Dr (between Stephen Richards Dr and Mendenhall Mall Rd) while eliminating southbound service from a 1.7-mile portion of Mendenhall Loop Rd (between Stephen Richards Dr and Mendenhall Mall Rd).

“These aren’t really so much meetings as chances for the public to come in and talk to us, look at the maps, ask questions and then fill out a short survey so we can get more information and make an informed decision,” Lyman says.

The Monday session is from 5 to 7 p.m. Two more will be held on Tuesday, from 2 to 3 p.m., and again from 5 to 7 p.m. All three sessions will be held in the CBJ Public Library at the Mendenhall Mall.

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