Link Transit sees uptick in weekend riders

 CHELAN- At the March 28 Chelan City Council meeting, Link Transit CEO Richard DeRock presented council members with an overview of the company’s current status and standing in the community.
DeRock said that in 2022, Link had 954,524 annual boardings. That is 97 percent of the pre-2020 rates. The Link leader mentioned that across the country, transit ridership declined dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the local company has held steady, particularly compared to other similar entities in the state. One good sign of this is the uptick in weekend riders.
“We didn’t have Sunday service at all prior to COVID, and our Saturday service has gone up a lot,” DeRock said. “On a national basis, it puts us in the top 10 systems in the country. Transit ridership was devastated by COVID. Large cities for the most part are fifty percent of what they were pre-COVID. It’s currently statewide in Washington State, sixty percent of where the transit system as a whole is.” The February ridership showed 2,091 average daily boardings, which is 92 percent of the pre-COVID rates. In comparison, King County is around fifty percent and Sound Transit is 35 percent. The CEO told the Council that a major challenge Link Transit faces is finding enough drivers. Its $23 million budget calls for 103 bus drivers and there are currently only 78. DeRock added that Link has adopted a progressive outlook. That includes a commitment to vehicle electrification. In his presentation, he showed the Council the number of electric buses and vehicles Link already had and those which had been ordered.
“We should possibly be the second bus system in the United States that’d be totally electrified,” he said of Link’s not-to-distant future.
Chelan Fire and Rescue Chief Brandon Asher then gave the department’s annual report to the Council. Asher explained the administrative changes in Fire and Rescue. He took over for Mark Darnell, who retired in January of 2022.
Asher touched on the decrease of volunteers for his department. He added that this is a national trend. The department is getting by with very few volunteers.
The chief added that the department’s Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau score has dropped from a five to a six. A WSRB Protection Class is a score on a scale from 1-10 which evaluates the fire protection capabilities in certain areas. A lower WSRB score correlates to lower property insurance for homeowners. Asher said the low ratings are a result of both increased staff and new firefighters. He credited the City of Chelan for providing an adequate water supply and proper hydro testing and praised the work of emergency response service RiverCom 911. “That takes all of us working together,” Asher said. “Other things that helped us out was just putting automatic aid on our run car, always having Manson, Entiat or Orondo depending on where it is in our District, coming to help us automatically.”
He added that the department is outgrowing its current station and is looking to expand into an adjacent lot.
“There’s no real possible way currently that we’re going to be able to improve our rating any more without being able to have more firefighters within the city limits,” Asher said. “That’s a huge part of the rating.
During the meeting, several motion considerations were moved and passed. Among those was False Alarm Ordinance No. 2023-1605. This motion dealt with raising the fines for those who intentionally call 911. Council members agreed to pass the motion, but still desired the fines to be stiffer for violators as false alarms cost the city great amounts of money.