SPOT riding strong as system notes 200K riders

DOVER — For the past three years, local transportation officials have been putting Bonner County residents on the SPOT.

District transportation director Susan Kiebert and SPOT bus manager Marion Johnson have a hard time believing it was three years ago today that the SPOT bus system hit the road for the first time.

Since that day, SPOT has given 201,125 rides to residents and visitors of Dover, Sandpoint, Ponderay and Kootenai.

“SPOT really is the gem of the state,” Kiebert said. “We’re just really proud of what it’s become.”

SPOT, or Selkirks-Pend Oreille Transit, began its existence as the brainchild of former Dover mayor Randy Curless, who wanted to establish an effective transportation system for town residents. After some work by Dover officials, they invited other Bonner County cities to join in the process. The resulting partnership laid the groundwork for what would become the four-city, fixed-route transportation system.

But what’s a great idea without a great name? Until April 2011, the bus system didn’t have one. That changed when a naming committee held a local contest to collect ideas, eventually picking the SPOT acronym as ideal for branding while still maintaining a local flavor. The contest winner chose to remain anonymous. The name was chosen right in time for SPOT’s debut a couple months later.

According to a 2005 study launched to measure the project’s viability, a local transit system would likely plateau at 500 rides a week.

SPOT achieved those numbers in its second week of service and just kept climbing. A week this January, for example, drew a total of 1,900 riders — a service total bolstered in part by SPOT’s winter partnership with Schweitzer Mountain Resort.

With such a dedicated ridership, Johnson believes a total 100,000 rides this year is well within reach.

Johnson and Kiebert are particularly heartened by the assistance SPOT provides on a daily basis. Kids can now get to the library to do homework or hit City Beach for a swim without asking their parents for a ride.

Seniors can use the system to make their doctor appointments or do their grocery shopping. That kind of community service is what earned SPOT the prestigious 2012 I-Way Leadership Award from Idaho Transportation Department.

In fact, the system is so popular and effective that it will be making its way to Bonners Ferry next year, Kiebert said. The resulting system, funded by the Idaho Transportation Department through $60,000 in Federal Transit Administration dollars, will be a much more limited variation. It is planned to give rides scheduled ahead of time — a setup known as a demand response system — three days a week.

The vehicle will be owned by Bonners Ferry, while SPOT officials will use their expertise to manage the system.