SANDPOINT — The Selkirks-Pend Oreille Transit bus, better known as SPOT, started with one bus seven years ago.

Now there is an operating fleet of seven vehicles and is ready to expand even more, said Clif Warren of SPOT, who gave City Council members an update on the expansion of the service Wednesday along with a request for an additional $8,000 from the city for the current fiscal year.

Last year, Sandpoint contributed $70,000 last year and Ponderay contributed $78,000, so the additional funds requested would match the contributions.

SPOT has taken on special event routes, including transportation during the Festival at Sandpoint. Warren said they plan to continue the service as drivers gave nearly 2,800 rides during the event. He estimated it took about 100 cars per night out of the neighborhood around War Memorial Field.

"We got nothing but good feedback from the riders," Warren said. "They loved it."

Service expanded in Boundary County with three days of on-demand service, and two days of service bringing riders between Bonners Ferry and Sandpoint. Warren said SPOT also started a vanpool service from Coeur d'Alene, bringing employees to Quest Aircraft Company.

SPOT is "almost ready" to start a Schweitzer Mountain route as well, which will transport riders from the Red Barn to the Schweitzer Village.

Warren said they hope to add another employee soon to take some of the weight off of Marion Johnson. Another issue is the age of the buses themselves, Warren said.

"The buses are wearing out," Warren said. "The (Federal Transit Administration) expects us to get 150,000 miles out of the buses we buy; we are getting in excess of 300,000 miles out of these buses. There is a limit as to how many miles you can put on one of those vehicles and 300,000 seems to be it."

A new bus has been ordered, which he said should be in by the end of the week, and two larger buses for the Schweitzer Mountain route will be coming soon. Three more new buses have been requested as well through a grant application submitted last month — two buses for Bonner County and one for Boundary County.

Following Warren's presentation, council members voted in favor of contributing $78,000 to SPOT for the 2018 fiscal year.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.