In today's local economy Budget Cuts are far from uncommon, especially when it comes to cuts from a government agency. But the cuts enacted to Coeur d' Alene's Citylink Bus Service will effect how many in the community get around as many low income Coeur d' Alene area residents rely on Citylink as their only source of transportation. Citylink is funded from several local government agencies with the staffing and maintenance for the bus system being provided by the Coeur d' Alene Tribe of Indians . Citylink operates routes in Coeur d' Alene, Hayden ,Post Falls, Worley, Plummer and some other more rural areas of Kootenai County just as they have since the services launch back in 2005. The new cuts are based on the fact that the Tribe can simply not afford to continue payment on the service under the current business model that Citylink uses. The Cuts will directly affect the service and the new routes and times go into effect on May 14th, among the new changes to Citylink are....
-Routes now end at the Riverstone Park and Ride facility in Coeur d Alene at 10pm instead of 1am as before
-The red bus route thru Post Falls by way of Cabela's will be eliminated but to make up for this the blue route bus will be re-routed along Mullan Ave. thru Post Falls and will also now include stops on Spokane St. , Poleline Ave and Idaho St. all of which are in Post Falls. This change however eliminates city bus service to the west end of Post Falls.
-Routes will now return to the Riverstone facility every hour on the hour,as opposed to the every 80 min schedule which had been in place.
-More bus stops will be added to allow shorter walking distances to the nearest Citylink bus stop.
- The Green Route will no longer terminate at the Hayden Super 1 Shopping Center but will instead end farther south on Commerce Way off of Honeysuckle Ave behind the Hayden Post Office.
-The Coverage area for Citylink's Para-transit service will also shrink.
For more info on the cuts to Citylink or for Citylink Bus Schedules and Routes visit-
www.idahocitylink.org
