WTA’s June Service Expansion Has Started; No Kings Protesters in Bellingham Pack Local Buses

Let’s pause a moment to celebrate something that will likely go unnoticed and underappreciated by most Bellinghamsters. On Sunday, the Whatcom Transit Authority kicked off its long-awaited June 2025 service expansion, which includes a small collection of new routes and boosted service along other existing routes in Bellingham and Lummi Nation. 

I’ve written previously about all the changes, so a brief recap with major highlights:

• WTA has introduced four new routes: Route 9, which brings service every 30 minutes weekdays between Downtown Bellingham and Whatcom County’s largest employer, PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center, and service once an hour on weekends; Route 10, which adds hourly service weekdays between Downtown Bellingham and Bellingham Technical College via W. Holly Street and Eldridge Avenue, bolstering existing Route 3 service along the same corridor; Route 18, which adds hourly service between the hospital and Cordata Station via Maplewood Avenue; and Route 45, which adds hourly service between Cordata and the King Mountain neighborhood Mondays through Saturdays. 
• WTA has added Sunday service to Route 3 between Downtown Bellingham and Cordata via Old Town and Bellingham International Airport.
• WTA has boosted service along the waterfront, with Route 47, introduced last fall, now seeing service every 30 minutes between Downtown Bellingham and Squalicum Harbor. The bus used on Route 47 also has a new distinctive “Waterfront Trolley” bus wrap to help brand the waterfront service. 
• WTA has increased service on Route 50 to and from Lummi Nation from every 90 minutes to every hour and shifted its Bellingham terminus from Bellingham Station downtown to Cordata Station.  

Check out WTA’s new Transit Guide here.

These new routes and boosted service will make certain transit trips within Bellingham more convenient, especially along the waterfront via Roeder Avenue, the James Street corridor in Sunnyland, and W. Holly Street corridor through Old Town. Let’s hope there’s sufficient civic cheerleading from elected officials, major employers, and certain neighborhood associations to underscore the value of these local transit investments, something needed to attract new riders and sustain the service expansion in the current fiscal environment. 

In the meantime, the local transit network is heading into the traditional summer ridership doldrums. Western Washington University’s June commencement ceremonies wrapped up on Saturday and many Western students who regularly ride local buses have now left town or will soon. October is traditionally WTA’s highest ridership month, when Western’s fall academic quarter is in full swing.   

Ongoing Threats to U.S. Democracy Boost Local Transit Use on Saturday

Saturday afternoon was a really fascinating time to observe local transit in action in Bellingham. Just like the Hands Off protests in April, No Kings demonstrators packed local buses before, during, and after the main gathering at Bellingham City Hall. As someone who regularly rides Route 1, which connects Downtown Bellingham and Fairhaven via State Street, it was surprising to see my downtown-bound bus packed to the gills with people and protest signs. 

When you ride a particular bus route with enough regularity, you end up recognizing plenty of familiar faces. But as the Route 1 bus departed Fairhaven on Saturday and went north through South Hill, it picked up many unfamiliar faces at nearly every stop, many of them senior citizens in South Hill. While plenty of senior citizens regularly ride Route 1 and other WTA bus routes, among this particular group were some transit newbies unfamiliar with bus basics including not knowing how to pay. Clearly from the looks on their faces, getting on the bus and sharing the same space with their neighbors was a very unusual adventure for many of them. 

Don’t get me wrong: It’s absolutely wonderful to see Bellinghamsters who would normally drive choose the bus instead as the way to go to and from Downtown Bellingham on Saturday. I just wish it didn’t take ongoing threats to American democracy to motivate them to use transit. I suspect the prospect of extremely limited parking near City Hall was probably the biggest motivating factor to walk to their nearest bus stop instead of driving.

But another factor to consider: So many in this particular group of South Hill residents seemed to know each other or had planned to meet their neighbors on the downtown-bound bus. A peer group using transit together to engage in a collective civic activity can be a powerful force. It can lower the social barriers of not driving and show that transit isn’t the dystopian hellhole they may have read about in Facebook comment threads. 

Bus Stops Closed, Consolidated Along Route 1

Ironically, some of the Route 1 stops where South Hill’s transit-oriented protest participants queued up on Saturday were eliminated with Sunday’s service changes. Although Route 1 wasn’t part of WTA’s recent service expansion, a handful of stops have been retired in an effort to keep buses closer to schedule. 

The impacted stops are: The northbound stops at N. State Street & Pine Street and 11th Street & Douglas Avenue; the southbound stops at 11th Street & Fillmore Avenue, Finnegan Way & 11th Street, and Donovan Avenue & 12th Street; and the north- and southbound stops at S. State Street & 13th Street, 11th Street & Easton Avenue, and 10th Street & McKenzie Avenue.

I’m generally a fan of stop-consolidation efforts, though they’re never perfect. In the case of the now-closed Route 1 bus stop at 10th Street & McKenzie Avenue in Fairhaven, it’s adjacent to apartment buildings and offers a handy connection to the Interurban Trail and Lower Padden Creek Trail. (The stop at Harris Avenue & 9th Street isn’t too far away though.) 

I’m hopeful the Route 1 stop consolidation will help keep buses on schedule. 

Since WTA now has fewer bus stops along Route 1 to maintain, hopefully some civic energy can be spent improving pedestrian access to the southbound stop at 11th Street & Bennett Avenue near Taylor Dock. This stop lacks an adjacent crosswalk and a sidewalk on the west side of 11th Street. Bennett Avenue also lacks sidewalks. The adjacent Route 1 northbound stop, at 11th Street & Taylor Avenue, has a signalized crosswalk, and sidewalks on Taylor Avenue and on the east side of 11th Street. 

Bellingham may be home to amazing parks and outdoors destinations, including Taylor Dock and the South Bay Trail, but bus stops like 11th Street & Bennett Avenue show where transit access to local parks can fall short. 

Fun Factoids From WTA Trivia Night

Earlier this month, a couple dozen transit fans gathered for WTA Transit Trivia night at Larrabee Lager Co. in Cordata, one of Bellingham’s most transit-accessible breweries given its location across from the Cordata Transit Center.

In addition to a general transit knowledge round, a photo identification round, and a music round, there was a WTA-focused round. 

• One question asked: “Next month, our GO lines will celebrate their anniversary. How many years has WTA had the GO Lines?” Answer: 20 years. 
• A true/false question asked: “Over half of the WTA work group are transit operators.” Answer: True, 58% of WTA’s 320 total employees are transit operators. 
• And the trickiest question of the evening may have been: “WTA’s northernmost bus stop is in which city?” Answer: Sumas.