Eagle Transit is exploring new ways to improve public transportation between Bigfork and the rest of the Flathead Valley and is currently in the information-gathering stage of its planning process.

If a solution is identified after gathering public input, Bigfork residents may see a new program roll out sometime later this year. Potential solutions discussed at a Feb. 13 meeting of local transportation officials and Bigfork community leaders included a weekly dial-a-ride service, a volunteer-based program or a commuter van pool.

But before Eagle Transit makes a final decision about how best to spend its limited funding and serve the Bigfork community, the public transportation provider wants to gather more feedback from the community.

“We just want to make sure if there are parties in Bigfork that haven’t been heard, that those voices are heard,” said Tom Schneider, the transportation director for Eagle Transit.

Eagle Transit and the Bigfork Area Chamber of Commerce are working together on a survey that will help them assess who is in need of public transportation and what the target drop-off sites would be.

Schneider said he’s fielded multiple calls from individual residents requesting rides, along with doctors from Kalispell area medical practices inquiring on behalf of their patients. Schneider also noted there may be a need to transport workers both to and from Bigfork as well as larger communities such as Whitefish and Kalispell.

Bigfork Chamber Executive Director Rebekah King said her office has received approximately 100 requests for transportation services from seniors and tourists.

“They don’t need a car,” King said of the visitors who contact her office. “They just need to get from the airport to Bigfork and frequently don’t realize the distance or the lack of public transportation.”

Schneider said Eagle Transit is hoping to establish a service or volunteer program that serves Bigfork’s needs for the long-term. That program might involve a team of volunteers transporting individuals from outlying areas into town, from which they’d link up with a bus, but the exact nature of the service is still yet to be determined.

“We want to go look at some of the successful volunteer programs out there across the country and find a good model to learn something from and build off of that,” he said.

Another option discussed was a weekly, dial-a-ride service where seniors would call in advance to schedule transportation.

Without an existing door-to-door service, many Bigfork area residents — especially seniors — can’t get to and from places as they please, instead relying on family members or neighbors — or simply remaining homebound. The dial-a-ride model would provide a more independent means to get to Kalispell for these individuals for things such as doctor’s appointments and shopping that they don’t have access to.

According to a sample route, the bus would pick up passengers within a given radius in Bigfork and Woods Bay, make a stop at the Bigfork Community Center and then head to Kalispell. Passengers would be dropped off at the door of their destination, whether that be a shopping outlet within a given area or a specific medical clinic. They’d have a few hours to conduct their business before the bus would provide return transportation home.

“We’ve never offered door-to-door, dial-a-ride type service, which is what we’re looking at doing,” Schneider said. “We don’t typically get requests for people to travel inside of Bigfork … primarily the requests that we get are people wanting to come from these areas into Kalispell, mostly for medical care, but also for some things that they just don’t have access to in their home communities.”

The funding isn’t there to support a daily service in Bigfork, but Lisa Sheppard, director of the Flathead County Agency on Aging, hopes that whatever shape the program they’re developing takes will do a better job of serving Bigfork than previous methods.

She said the last time the county offered public transportation in Bigfork, passengers had to first get to Harvest Foods in order to catch the bus.

“Well, if they could do that, they could probably drive to Kalispell,” she acknowledged. “Looking at it differently, we’re saying, ‘How do we get those people who can’t drive to Harvest Foods?’ and so creating a different model. Maybe this is the model and maybe it’s not.”

This commuter service model was in operation for less than a year in 2016. Over a seven-month period, only 310 rides were provided, according to Eagle Transit’s 2021 Transportation Coordination Plan.

Before the wheels can get turning on a solution for public transportation in Bigfork, the agencies involved will be surveying the community and local businesses to get a clear vision of local transportation needs.

“We would be hopeful by the end of the year to have service,” Schneider said, “but obviously it depends on the community and volunteers.”

Reporter Mackenzie Reiss can be reached at (406) 758-4433 or editor@bigforkeagle.com.