~Contributed by Snoqualmie Valley Transportation
Winter driving can be a challenge for some vehicles and some drivers. When you have car trouble or aren’t completely confident about driving – or letting a younger driver go out alone – it might be time to take a bus.
Snoqualmie Valley Transportation, our local bus company, has a network of services to get you where you need to go in all kinds of weather.
SVT, a project of Mt. Si Senior Center, provides service from North Bend to Duvall seven days a week via the Valley Shuttle. It also operates two routes connecting points throughout the valley every weekday and a demand-response service throughout the Snoqualmie Valley.
“Our drivers are well trained, our tires have been seasonally switched over, everybody has had expert chaining classes, and we’re as ready as we can be,” said SVT Director Amy Biggs. “We all know how unpredictable our weather gets here in the foothills. We listen to the drivers, monitor the conditions carefully and will shut routes down only if public and driver safety requires it. We don’t want to but sometimes it must happen for everyone’s safety.”
Biggs encourages riders to use another tool to make winter travel easier: signing up for SVT Rider Alert notifications on the website www.svtbus.org.
“We are working hard to accommodate Valley folks who need to get around,” said Biggs, “so we make sure we have the information available in all the ways people might access it – including by making an old-fashioned phone call to talk to us directly.”
SVT services have an on-time rate of more than 99 percent, but when unavoidable weather delays occur, Biggs said they can use email alerts to notify riders. To sign up, enter your contact information in the Get Notified box on the SVT home page.
All SVT buses are accessible and have bike racks. Anyone can use the buses; all are open to the public. Rides cost $1 or a $1 suggested donation, based on the type of service. The SVT website, www.svtbus.org, has general information and timetables for each route. Since 2013, the Valley Shuttle Route has also been part of the King County Metro Trip Planner database. As of this year, the SVT routes have also shown up on an innovative new tool called Find a Ride, which includes all valley transportation options, at https://www.findaride.org/tripplanner.
Find out more about SVT, including local job openings, at www.svtbus.org or call 425-888-7001.
Snoqualmie Valley Transportations is supported with funding from Washington’s Climate Commitment Act. The CCA supports Washington’s climate action efforts by putting cap-and-invest dollars to work reducing climate pollution, creating jobs, and improving public health. Information about the CCA is available at www.climate.wa.gov.
About Snoqualmie Valley Transportation: Snoqualmie Valley Transportation (SVT) is a Mt. Si Senior Center program. It is the primary bus system serving Snoqualmie Valley. Funded by King County Metro Transit, Snoqualmie Tribe, WSDOT, and donations, SVT provides a variety of local-only bus services, in North Bend, Snoqualmie, Fall City, Carnation, Duvall and Monroe. More information about Snoqualmie Valley Transportation can be found on at: http://svtbus.org or by calling 425-888-7001.
