This past weekend, BhamByBus was busy attending local arts events around town mostly by transit. And with "mostly," that's a recognition of one of the challenges of living in Bellingham car-free and relying on buses to get you where you need to go.

For all the great things transit can connect you to in the City of Subdued Excitement — especially the density of arts destinations in Downtown Bellingham — when it comes to evening events, you might miss the last buses of the night depending on your timing.

For instance, if you're wrapping up an evening movie at the Pickford Film Center (1318 Bay Street near W. Champion Street), you might have to rush over to Bellingham Station to catch, for example, the Whatcom Transit Authority's last Route 1 (Downtown to Fairhaven) bus of the night, which departs downtown at 10:10 p.m. (On Sundays, the last Fairhaven-bound Route 1 departure is at 9:20 p.m.)  

And if you're not in the vicinity of Bellingham Station, that may put the bus you need further out of reach if you need to transfer downtown. 

On Saturday, BhamByBus attended the 1970s Broadway musical Pippin at the Bellingham Theatre Guild (1600 H Street at the Old Village Trail), which closed out BTG's 2023-24 season. While the performance was conveniently located near Route 232 (Downtown to Cordata/WCC) on the frequent service Green GO Line corridor, the last Route 232 bus headed downtown leaving Dupont Street & H Street on a Saturday is at 9:59 p.m. That's enough time to catch the last buses departing Bellingham Station at 10:10 p.m., but only if you can leave in time to get there. 

And you shouldn't leave Pippin early. After all, the Leading Player notes numerous times throughout the musical that there's an important climax, "ladies and gentlemen, a climax you will remember for the rest of your lives!" But Pippin's run time means that exiting the Bellingham Theatre Guild's converted Congregational church building in the Lettered Streets won't happen until after 10 p.m. 

An ornamented wooden church steeple with nighttime skies around it.
You can easily reach the Bellingham Theatre Guild via Route 232 buses, but evening bus schedules mean you might not get home with transit. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

So BhamByBus's better half summoned a ride home via Lyft, as we sometimes do reluctantly when the WTA's evening bus schedules don't work in our favor with late-running events. (Our 3-mile Lyft trip home on Saturday night cost approximately $20, including tip, far more expensive — but faster — than taking the bus, which is $1 per ride or free if you, like BhamByBus, already hit the WTA's $30 monthly fare cap.)   

Using transit for Sunday evening arts events in Bellingham presents more challenges since the WTA starts winding down bus service roughly an hour earlier than they would on a weekday or Saturday. (On Sundays, some WTA bus routes in Bellingham don't have any service.)

As the Bellingham Theatre Guild was bidding adieu to Pippin and its 2023-24 season on Saturday, on Sunday, the Bellingham Festival of Music had its 2024 Opening Night performance at Western Washington University's Performing Arts Center. The annual classical music summer festival, now with Brazilian conductor Marcelo Lehninger of the Grand Rapids Symphony as artistic director, kicked off the 31st season with violin soloist Sarah Chang performing the Violin Concerto in D Minor by Jean Sibelius and the festival orchestra performing John Corigliano's Promenade Overture and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F Minor.

A white shuttle van on a street adjacent to a bright red outdoor sculture.
A shuttle van from a local retirement home arrives for Sunday's opening night concert of the 2024 Bellingham Festival of Music. High Street on Western Washington University's campus is closed to general traffic but open to buses. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

It's not uncommon to hear Bellinghamsters complain about parking on Western's campus for events at or near the Performing Arts Center. Not only is High Street's transit-only stretch through campus closed to general traffic, but parking is also extremely limited near the venue. This year, Bellingham Festival of Music ticket holders driving to campus can park in Western's Lot 9G, about a 10-minute, mostly level walk away from the venue. Disability parking and parking for certain sponsors is available in Lot 11G immediately behind the Performing Arts Center. And Lot 6V, downhill off N. Garden Street, is also available for festivalgoers, including elevator access in the Viking Union to reach the plaza outside the Performing Arts Center.  

There's also the bus, which is handy given the Blue GO Line runs in front of the concert venue. On Sunday, BhamByBus had nearly front-door service at the Performing Arts Center thanks to a Route 105 (Downtown to Fairhaven via WWU) bus. While the bus did get stuck in some momentary traffic on High Street from drivers dropping people off and trying to access the limited number of available spaces in Lot 11G, BhamByBus reached the Performing Arts Center with plenty of time to spare. 

Drivers dropping off passengers or finding parking near Western Washington University's Performing Arts Center, can sometimes cause delays for buses trying to access the transit-only stretch of High Street that runs through campus.
Drivers dropping off passengers or finding parking near Western Washington University's Performing Arts Center, can sometimes cause delays for buses trying to access the transit-only stretch of High Street that runs through campus. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

In previous years, Bellingham Festival of Music concerts started at 7 p.m., which sometimes rushed pre-concert dinners. But the earlier start also made it possible to catch a bus home from Western's campus in some cases. In 2024, festival concerts now start at 7:30 p.m., leaving more time for dinner but marooning the few people who, like BhamByBus, use transit to reach performances, which now conclude after many buses end service for the night.

On Sunday, following the momentous conclusion of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, there was one bus we could have taken, the Downtown-bound Route 105 bus leaving Haggard Hall for Bellingham Station at 9:53 p.m. But BhamByBus needed a Fairhaven-bound bus to the Southside. And despite a Route 105 bus being available, there were no more Route 1 buses leaving Downtown Bellingham to transfer to.

While a Lyft ride home was a potential option, it was a nice night for a walk, so BhamByBus strolled approximately 1.5 miles from the back of the Viking Union through South Hill to Fairhaven with the last of sunset's glow over Bellingham Bay accompanying us for the trek along Garden Street and 14th Street. 

A post-concert stroll home through South Hill. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

But hoofing it home isn't an option for everyone and it's not necessarily a desirable option for those who can, even when the weather is pleasant. 

This isn't an argument for Bellingham arts organizations to start their events earlier in the evening for the benefit of patrons who might use transit. (Avoiding a rushed pre-concert dinner is also important.) 

But it does point out some of the shortcomings of local evening bus schedules, not only for concertgoers and arts patrons, but also service employees who end up having to drive, paying for parking, or spending money on a taxi, Uber, or Lyft when WTA buses aren't an option. 

Transit can connect people to so many opportunities as long as it can also get them home. But providing late-evening bus service isn't a free endeavor and can be hard for many agencies to justify when so few people are riding. More people might choose transit in the evenings if the buses ran more frequently and later into the night — a classic chicken vs. egg scenario — but as far as BhamByBus can tell, there aren't any strong voices in Bellingham currently clamoring and advocating for better evening transit service. 

The latest-serving bus in the WTA network is Route 190 on weekdays and Saturdays, which arrives at Bellingham Station around 11 p.m., something that inspired a question at the recent WTA Transit Trivia night at Larrabee Lager Co. in Cordata. 

If the City of Bellingham, with WTA partners, could find resources to make some limited night owl service feasible or nudge last-bus departures a bit later, it could ease some of the friction of using the bus in the evenings knowing that transit can not only get you to your destination but also back home.