Mediocre Transit in a Mediocre Town

15 February, 2025

Over the past ~~few~~ many months, I've developed somewhat of a transit "addiction." If given the opportunity, I will find a way to take whatever form of public transit is availible to me, from buses to trains to monorails. This is great, if you happen to live in a big city like Seattle or Vanouver BC (home to one of North America's busiest bus routes), but it can be a bit of a challenge in smaller cities, like my hometown of Yakima, Washington.

In order to understand the true travesty that is Yakima Transit, one must first know of some of Washington's weird funding for transit. For starters, Washington really likes to subsidize rural transit, especially to connect smaller communities that are further away from major cities. This leads to the very ironic situation of Ellensburg, a very small college town, having transit with a wider service span (the time between the first and last buses) and better weekend service (they run their normal schedule every day, except for about 7 holidays a year) than the larger Yakima Transit system. In addition, many smaller towns have fare-free transit that has zero direct cost to the riders; meanwhile, many larger cities rely on fares to make up their operating expenses.

What it is

Now, Yakima is by no means a small town. Spanning across an entire valley, with a metro area population of over a quarter million people, Yakima is, by all accounts, very moderately sized. Its position as one of the only larger cities in the middle of the state also means that it regularly appears on larger maps, including at least one globe (oddly enough). However, if one were to take a peek at the timetables they would find a transit system that leaves much to be desired.

First, an overview. Yakima Transit is composed of 9 main loop routes, numbered 1-9, plus a Route 11 that is run by a local motorcoach company that runs between Yakima and Ellensburg. The 9 main routes are split into pairs (except for route 6), running as reverse loops of each other. For example, Route 2 goes westbound on Tieton Drive then eastbound on Nob Hill Boulevard, while Route 5 follows the same path but in the opposite direction. The only exceptions are Routes 1 and 8, which (for complicated historical reasons) don't really share much of the same route anymore. Route 6 is a little interesting, as they've run it in multiple different configurations before. As of writing, they are currently running it in two halves, one north and one south of the transit center. So all in all, a fairly conventional service, if a little lacking in different routes.

The Good

Next, the good. For starters, the timetables are very well designed, if you understand how to work the system. Every bus will depart the transit center at 15 after and 45 after (except for route 1, but we'll get to that) which means that you are guarenteed to be able to make it to your transfer at the transit center. See, because of this system, you can get on any bus from the nearest stop, ride it down to the center, and get on whatever bus takes you to your destination. Now, it's certainly not the fastest, but it is a fairly foolproof way to be able to get pretty much anywhere in the city. As any good transit service should, every single bus is equipped with a 2-bike rack that will comfortably hold on to your bike when taking the bus across town. There are some fairly major holes in the service map, so having the extra mobility of a bike really helps fill those holes.

Most of Yakima's fleet is composed of 35' Gillig Low Floor buses, with fold-out accessibility ramps for wheelchairs, walkers, and the like. They do have some 40' buses which are mostly used for their other services (like event shuttles for the city's large events, such as the Central Washington State Fair and the Luminaria), but they can occasionally be seen running regular service routes. And finally, the entire operation runs completely ad-free! The ad carriers inside the bus are empty (not even any service announcments or anython though...) and even the bus book doesn't have any ads in it. All in all, a fairly decent service.

The Less Good

But the service does have its downsides. On weekdays, most of the routes leave every half hour, which is simply a long time to wait if you miss your bus. It would be great if they could improve the service to every 20 minutes, if not even every 15 minutes. We don't need Vancouver-level "buses every 2 minutes" frequency, but the less you have to rely on timetables the better. This is all excluding Route 1, the route that absolutely should have 30 minute service at the minimum. As it stands right now, they only run one bus on the route, leaving the transit center at 15 after only and having an absolutely atrocious frequency of one bus per hour. It's also the only route that goes out to the furthest west end of town, so if you need to get to there or from there your scheduling options are quite limited.

And finally, my biggest problem with Yakima Transit: the service span. On weekdays, the buses only run from 6:15 am to around 6:45 pm. that's only a little over 12 hours a day, and it's not like all of Yakima closes at 6. In fact, most places don't close until 8 or even 10 pm. All of this means that if you work any kind of unusual schedule that's not somewhere around 9-5, you're not going to be able to take the bus to work. This is before we even get to weekends. On Saturdays, most of the routes only run once per hour. On Sundays , only around half of the routes are running (so no reverse routes), and those that are run their more limited Saturday schedules. And as if to add insult to injury, the Yakima-Ellensburg Commuter only runs weekdays, so if you're a college student at CWU who wants to head into Yakima for a weekend trip you better have a car or else pay the exorbitant fares the private bus companies are charging. There are no buses that run late at night, so your only option of getting around is walking, or getting a taxi/rideshare. And while Yakima is better than some, it is by no means a walkable city.

Conclusions

Overall, Yakima has a fairly servicable transit system. It can pretty easily take you from point A to point B, assuming they're both in the city limits and you don't care about how long it'll take. And, it's fairly reasonably priced. One single dollar will get you a ride on a bus, as well as a single-use transfer to another bus if required. For two dollars (or three if you get on really early in the morning) you can rid buses all day to your heart's content. And to top it all off, anyone aged 18 and can ride for free, thanks to a Washington funding bill to encourage youth ridership of transit. Now, it does have its downsides, like less than ideal frequency and span, but for what it is, it truly is a mediocre transit system for a mediocre town.