Kitsap Transit to open new Wheaton Way Transit Center next week

Christian Vosler | Kitsap

BREMERTON — For years, regular bus riders traveling north or south along Highway 303 have waited to catch a bus at Kitsap Transit’s East Bremerton Transit Center — a moniker most of them consider to be generous at best.

“It was just a bus shelter in the middle of (the Grocery Outlet parking lot),” said Reynaldo Natividad, a frequent bus rider who lives in Silverdale.

Riders will be able to more comfortably wait for their connecting buses beginning next week, when Kitsap Transit officially opens its new $12 million transit center at the corner of Wheaton Way and Broad Street.

With nine bus bays, a 162-stall park-and-ride lot, covered waiting areas, and bathrooms, the new Wheaton Way Transit Center aims to make riding public transportation a more comfortable and attractive option for residents in Bremerton and beyond.

“This is just a huge, huge advantage from where we came from,” Kitsap Transit executive director John Clauson said at a grand opening event for the transit center Monday.

In addition to moving passengers to a more safe and comfortable location, city and transit officials hope the new transit center will encourage people who don’t currently take the bus to try public transportation. The park-and-ride will provide another option for shipyard workers or ferry riders who want to avoid the parking crunch downtown. Kitsap Transit wants to encourage bicyclists to commute via bus, too, with the addition of bike racks and eventually bike lockers at the transit center.

“How do we get people to take transit? We make it convenient,” Kol Medina, chair of Kitsap Transit’s board of directors, said Monday. “We make it easy for them, that's what this transit center is all about.”

For Natividad, the transit center is a big step in quality compared with the old shelter at Sylvan Way, where the sloped parking lot often made it difficult for riders to board buses and barely provided protection from the weather.

“It’s really convenient,” Natividad said.

Fellow rider Brenda Winslowe, who sits on Kitsap Transit’s Citizens' Advisory Committee, also praised the new facility. Winslowe lives in Silverdale and takes the bus four to five times a week to buy food, get to medical appointments and attend CAC meetings.

“The ample space, the different available shelters, you have your choice between sitting, and the handrails are wonderful,” Winslowe said.

As part of the project, Kitsap Transit partnered with the city of Bremerton and the Washington State Department of Transportation to install a traffic signal at the corner of Wheaton Way and Broad Street. The light provides protection for bus drivers entering the transit center, but also for residents in the area, Bremerton city councilwoman Leslie Daugs said.

“That was a big concern from the neighborhood, and the apartment and housing development back here,” said Daugs, who represents the district that includes Wheaton Way and East Bremerton.

Kitsap Transit paid for the installation of the traffic signal, but the city of Bremerton will maintain it. Most of the funding for the $12 million project came from federal and state grants, including Connecting Washington funds. Kitsap Transit’s local match is $500,000 plus the property, which it already owns. Kitsap Transit also plans to remodel a building in the northeast corner of the lot for use as a driver comfort station.

Olympic College students also stand to benefit from the transit center, which is located a few miles from its Bremerton campus. The transit center features a pull-out on the west side of Wheaton Way, which will allow buses on express routes to quickly drop off and pick up passengers without having to turn onto Broad Street. Patricia Thomas, who manages OC’s Students in Need Group, said lack of transportation is one of the biggest reasons many students drop out of school.

“Having adequate transportation is huge, parking is bad, most students don’t have cars,” Thomas said. “This is going to be instrumental in getting them to campus.”

Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler called the location of the transit center “strategic,” and highlighted the growth in the area, including a housing development on Almira Drive and Riddell Road, the new Dutch Bros coffee stand across the street, and improvements to the old Kmart building on Wheaton Way.

“As we continue to revitalize the Wheaton Way/Highway 303 corridor, improve the walkability of our neighborhoods and create more access for those with disabilities, this new Wheaton Way Transit Center represents a big step forward in supporting our strategies,” Wheeler said.

Transit officials had voiced concern that Initiative 976 — the measure approved by voters earlier this month that would limit state and local vehicle license fees to $30 per year — might hurt Kitsap Transit’s ability to pay for the transit center. Clauson said it appears state funding for the Wheaton Way Transit Center won’t be affected by the initiative for now.

“We’re being told from DOT (Washington State Department of Transportation) is that if you have a signed agreement and the project is underway, the funds are secure,” Clauson said.

The transit center opens officially on Dec. 2. At that point, multiple bus routes through East Bremerton that had been stopping at the old transfer center on Sylvan Way and other bus stops along Highway 303 will be shifted to the new transit center.

To see a complete list of which routes will be changing and which bus stops will be closed, click here.