Rural Transit Day is just around the corner for Tri-Valley’s T.H.E. Bus program. This is the second year this event has been offered, and with a great turnout last year, the program is looking for much of the same for this year’s Rural Transit Day. “Rural Transit Day is Wednesday, July 16. On that day, we are celebrating everything rural transit,” says Transportation Program Director Elizabeth Hensrud. “We are celebrating transit in itself, and we are celebrating the staff; the bus drivers, the dispatchers, the mechanics, the managers, we are celebrating everybody.”
Part of the celebration is offering free bus rides for all riders. “On that day, Wednesday, July 16, we are offering free rides on the bus anywhere in town,” says Hensrud. “If this is your first time riding the bus, you can give us a call and we will bring a bus to you. The dispatchers will walk you through how to schedule the bus rides, what is needed, pick up location, and drop off location, and get you where you need to go.”
T.H.E. Bus program has been keeping very busy, and to help keep up with the demand and ensure the buses are well taken care of, there is a new Bus Garage going up just down the road from the current location. “The bus garage is progressing. Here in the next couple of weeks, you should see the slab going up, the cement slab. Right now, they are just doing all the underground work,” says Hensrud. “You should start to see sides go up end of July, early August, I believe, and the anticipated completion of the project is by Thanksgiving, in November.”
The new bus garage is in addition to what Tri-Valley already has and is not replacing or closing down any part of the Fairfax location. “It has seven bays, one of the bays being a wash bay,” says Hensrud. “The other six will typically store our class 400 buses, our smaller buses.” The garage bays will be drive-through so that the buses can come in on one side of the garage and head out through another door. No backing out required.
Tri-Valley is excited about an addition coming soon to their fleet. “We are getting our first propane buses. We are anticipating getting them by the fall, if not sooner,” says Hensrud. “We will be receiving five of them, and we anticipate putting them into service as soon as we can. We are also getting a fueling station, so we will have the ability to fuel those propane buses ourselves.”
RTC Program Manager with Tri-Valley, Marcia Haglund, also had some great things to say about T.H.E. Bus. “We are always busy at T.H.E. Bus. Currently, we have County Fairs. We have the Polk County Fair this week. Actually, we go there tomorrow for Senior Day,” says Haglund. “We have our summer fun activity bus from June through August. The kids can buy that summer pass and have unlimited rides. It’s excellent for parents to be able to get their kids to tee-ball, or swimming, or Club Kid, or wherever they are going this summer.”
Wednesday, July 16, is Rural Transit Day at T.H.E. Bus. Call 218-281-0700 to schedule your free ride.
