Missoula Bus System Offers Public Two Choices, Both Increase Operations Budget by 60 Percent
The Missoula Mountain Line bus system is considering two options for the future and is asking the public for input on which they would like more.
"We have focused on two main choices: it's between more frequent service, which tends to make service more convenient for some folks and increase ridership, verses extending the span and duration of the service, which would include more service on the weekends, Sundays and the holidays," said Mountain Line Community Outreach Coordinator Bill Pfeiffer.
Pfeiffer says both alternatives will cost around the same amount and will require an increase in the Mountain Line's six million dollar operations budget.
"Both of the alternatives that we proposed would require an increase in funding, a future increase, these plans typically are looking about 30 years in the future. So both alternatives assume about a 60 percent increase in operational funding to fully implement.
Pfeiffer says that the money needed for the changes would “typically” come after asking the voters directly.