Bus service moves forward

Tim Leeds Havre Daily News [email protected]

The ever-expanding bus system in north-central Montana is setting some special routes for the holiday season, in the midst of bringing in new buses to serve increasing ridership and planning for the future. Driver Randy Graves said a 23-seat bus the North Central Montana Transit system brought in to use on the Havre to Fort Belknap run filled up almost immediately. “I think it maxed out on the second day,” he said. The transit system provides free transportation from Fort Belknap and Box Elder to Havre and back, as well as making stops on the way and providing transportation in Havre and to Great Falls. The creation of the system was spearheaded by the poverty-reduction organization Opportunity Link Inc. based out of Havre, with the help including financial support of the city of Havre, the governments of Hill and Blaine counties, The Chippewa Cree Tr ibe of Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, the Fort Belknap Indian Communi ty and Montana State University-Northern. Initial funding for the system was came form a $75,000 startup grant through the Montana Department of Transportation and $227,000 through the federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to purchase buses. Those are expected to arrive early next year. Jim Lyons, director of the transit system, said that when it was being planned, the monthly number of passengers was expected to be 200 to 300 a month. What the system has seen is nearly 100 passengers a day at some points. The system also has increased its staff. Along with three full-time drivers Bruce James, Randy Graves and Bob Waldron the system has hired Rana Weber as its customer service representative and part-time driver. Northern students Megan Wickum, working primarily in marketing, and Chandler Salmond, doing maintenance, also have been hired. Work also is under way using all local businesses and resources, Lyons said to renovate the old Triangle Ford New Holland building east of town as a bus garage. Once the renovations are completed, the building also will house the offices of the transit system. The facility now houses the transit system's six buses, five of which are being leased, and Lyons said the garage will start housing the MSU-Northern bus starting next week. Another tie with Northern also is being established Lyons said the system soon will start using biodiesel produced at the university's Bioenergy Innovation and Testing Center to fuel its diesel vehicles. The transit system provides busing Monday through Friday, with runs to Great Falls and back on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Special schedules also are put in place as needed, such as for the arrival of a steam train in Havre Oct. 16, and transporting the Southern Alberta Pipe Band from its hotel to the Ag Appreciation Banquet during Havre Festival Days in September. More special runs are planned. The service will have a bus in the Festival of Lights Parade in Chinook Friday, with the offer to take passengers to that celebration. It also will run a route for the annual tree lighting in Havre Saturday. Special routes also will be run on the Saturdays of Dec. 5 and Dec. 19, from Fort Belknap and Box Elder to several Havre stops and back and through Havre, with another run through Havre in the middle of the day. Lyons said the system has been leasing new buses to handle the increasing ridership and still is nearly short of seats. Just a few days after leasing two Sprinter vans from Glacier National Park, the system returned to Glacier to pick up the 23-seat bus it also is using. That is the bus that started filling during its first week of operation. “It's incredible to see this maxed out,” Lyons said about the top-end Optima bus. Opportunity Link also recently purchased a bus for $3,300 that the transit system will use for a special route, Lyons said to take people to Bear Paw Ski Bowl south of Havre. That route is still in the planning stages, although Lyons said they test-ran the bus to the ski bowl this week. With five buses leased and the one owned, the system is able to handle the passengers it is transporting, although just barely on some routes. Lyons said the Havre-Fort Belknap route is the busiest, with 678 passengers riding that route this month through Friday. The Havre-Box Elder route saw 118 passengers through Friday. Those routes also connect with routes run by the governments of Rocky Boy's and the Fort Belknap Indian reservations. A special route also has been established to take high school students, who are participating in a project to build housing at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, between MSU-Northern and Stone Child College on the reservation. That route had transported 109 passengers through Friday. Lyons said the route to Great Falls, which uses a Fort Belknap shuttle bus that brings passengers from the reservation through Harlem, Chinook, Havre, Laredo, and Box Elder en route to Great Falls, also is nearly full each of the days it runs. Lyons said the riders seem to be taking ownership in the line as well, and seem appreciative that the system keeps to its schedule and the buses are clean and well-maintained. Passengers and the transit system's staff are getting along as well. Graves said the people seem to enjoy the service and often contribute. “A farmer brought doughnut s (Monday,)” he said. “That happens all the time.” On the Net: North Central Montana Transit: http://www.ncmtransit.org