Citylink bus route and time changes are proposed to make the free service more sustainable, but charging fees is not part of the immediate plan.

An open house on the proposed changes will be on Wednesday from 4-6 p.m. at the Kootenai County Administration Building, 451 N. Government Way, in Meeting Room 1A on the first floor. Public comments will be accepted.

The Coeur d'Alene Tribe has provided the majority of the funding for the public transit service that has been offered since 2006, but the agency said the funding model is no longer sustainable without more contributions from areas served.

Ridership has increased each year with a record 575,731 rides in 2011 (an average of 47,977 per month) and new routes and stops have been added since the start. In January, the service had its second-highest ridership month ever of 51,446.

"The Tribe has been a phenomenal partner not just to the county, but the community," said Christine Fueston, the county's Federal Transit Administration grant administrator.

"Their generosity, along with Kootenai Medical Center (which provides free paratransit services with Citylink for medical trips), has been overwhelming. The services you see today wouldn't exist without those two partners."

The proposed Citylink changes, which would likely go into effect in late April or May, include:

• ending service at 10 p.m. seven days a week compared to 1 a.m. now;

• eliminating service on the west side of Post Falls, including atCabela's and the nearby Wal-Mart, on the far east side of Sherman Avenue in Coeur d'Alene at Lake Coeur d'Alene Drive and on the North Idaho College campus itself;

• re-routing a Post Falls route to include Mullan Avenue and Spokane and Idaho streets and eliminate stops at Post Falls City Hall and along Seltice Way; and

• reducing the paratransit service boundary by three-quarters of a mile on the west side of Post Falls to Chase and the northern border in Hayden to Dakota.

Fueston said the proposed changes come after meetings with the cities to discuss how to impact ridership as little as possible and maximize routes based on ridership numbers.

On a positive note, stops will be made every 60 minutes compared to every 85 minutes now.

"This (new plan) will be a sustainable building block upon which we can grow the system as more funding becomes available," Fueston said.

With the exception of adding a stop at KMC on the route from Riverstone to the Coeur d'Alene Casino, no changes are planned for that route. It makes up 24 percent of Citylink's ridership due to, not only dropping people off at the casino, but employees commuting to the metropolitan area from the reservation or vice-versa.

The Coeur d'Alene route from downtown to Hayden is 39 percent of the ridership.

No changes are planned for KMC's service.

Fueston said if Citylink paratransit passengers are located outside the new service boundary, they can still utilize the service but it's their responsibility to go inside the boundary to catch a ride. She said the change will affect a handful of customers.

Fueston said charging a fee to ride Citylink has been discussed, but it's likely the cost to implement the system, including buying fare boxes, increase security due to the exchanging of money involved and maintenance, would be more than the fees generated.

"Right now we're opting to putting the money we receive on the street (for service)," she said.

She said fees may come up again if the proposed changes aren't enough to solve the funding dilemma.

The county owns most Citylink buses, while the Tribe funds most of the service and maintenance. It costs roughly $1.2 million per year to operate Citylink.

The Tribe has been providing nearly $1 million annually, including $500,000 in matching funds to obtain a federal grant.

Heather Keen, the Tribe's spokesperson, said the hope is that the proposed changes will save enough to make the current funding model sustainable.

"We're looking to save $500,000," Keen said. "That's what the Tribe's overmatch has been."

Cities served by Citylink also contribute to public transit annually based on their populations, including Coeur d'Alene, $43,983; Post Falls, $21,950; Hayden, $11,696; Dalton Gardens, $2,904; and Huetter, $165.

Fueston said those amounts haven't changed in recent years and cities will discuss during their budget talks again this year whether their contributions can rise during tough times.

"Part of it is thinking of it as everyone is working toward the same cause," Fueston said.

The cities have also agreed to assist with the proposed bus stop changes.

Creating a regional public transportation authority, a government agency that coordinates services, monitors how federal grant money is spent and secures funding through federal and local sources, has been bantered, but is currently not on the front burner.

KMC provided 19,121 complimentary medical trips last year at a cost of $293,390.

How to comment

An open house on the proposed Citylink changes will be on Wednesday from 4-6 p.m. at the Kootenai County Administration Building, 451 N. Government Way, in Meeting Room 1A on the first floor. Public comments will be accepted. An electronic version of the changes is at www.kmpo.net. Written comments can be sent until March 28 to: Kootenai County Commissioners, 451 N. Government Way, P.O. Box 9000, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83816-9000.