A fleet of buses will soon start moving passengers around the central Kenai Peninsula as part of a first-of-its-kind transportation initiative from the Kenaitze Indian Tribe that’s been in the works for years. The general public got its first look at a Kahtnu Area Transit bus Wednesday, when tribal transportation leaders shared new details about the service launching in early December.
Standing near the bus steering wheel, tribal transportation supervisor Jenica Kempski explained what passengers will encounter once they hop on board.
“If they’re paying with cash, this is the fare box,” she said, pointing to a clear box with a slot on top. “That gets collected by us at the end of the day. We’ll have a tablet up here, that’s how we scan the bus pass.”
The bus is one of four that will soon be making daily roundtrips between Kenai, Nikiski and Soldotna as part of the tribe’s new fixed-route bus service. When it starts running, the system will be the first fixed-route bus operation on the Kenai Peninsula, which has historically been served by private cab companies.
Brandi Bell is the tribe’s transportation manager. She shared new details about the service with attendees at Wednesday’s Kenai Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
“What is a fixed-bus service?” she asked the crowd. “So it is a fixed route with specific timetables at designated locations, just like in Anchorage, Fairbanks, another big city that you might travel to. So our goal is to connect community with services and socialization opportunities.”
The tribe hasn’t finalized the full list of bus stops between Sterling and Nikiski. But Bell says they’ll all start and end at the Kenai bus depot, at the former Kendall Ford dealership near Walmart. From there, buses will go to Nikiski, then back into Kenai and out to Big John’s near Sterling.
“We know that travel across the Kenai Peninsula is rather expensive, and we're hoping that this helps alleviate some of that burden to our community,” Bell said.
Regular fares start at $5 for a single ride and run as high as $100 for an unlimited monthly pass. Kids, veterans, Medicare card holders and elders are eligible for half fares. Children ride for free if they’re 4 years old or younger, and must be at least 12 years old to ride the bus alone. Buses will run Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“Our motto is connecting our community one ride at a time,” Bell said. “It's not the ride itself, it's what happens at the end of that ride. That connection to community and services.”
Even when buses begin picking up passengers, Bell says Kahtnu Area Transit will still be a pilot program. She says transportation services won’t go away, but the tribe will monitor, and maybe make changes to, stops, signage and timetables.
Back outside the chamber, the low afternoon sun shone on one of the buses. It’s wrapped in art created by Tim Millings, the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s in-house designer. Light and dark blue curves are meant to evoke the imagery of Kahtnu, the Dena’ina word for the Kenai River.
