At Gonzaga University, the Office of Sustainability is hosting bus tours for the community as a way to encourage an eco-friendly form of travel. Public transit aims to reduce emissions and provide transportation to those without access to cars.
With two stops on campus, the City Line offers GU students and staff a convenient and sustainable connection to the broader Spokane area. Since 2015, riders have been able to use their Zagcards to access free bus service through the university. Beginning Nov. 28, however, Zagcard swipes will no longer be accepted, as the Spokane Transit Authority moves to centralize its fare system in a digital form.
Aundrea Davit, the zero-emissions transportation coordinator for GU, will be riding the bus with event attendees.
“We meet at the City Line near the Zag Shop, and I talk about it since there is a switch-over to the Connect app, which is your new bus pass,” Davit said. “We get on the City Line, and we ride all the way to the plaza and throughout, I would tell them about the line to pull to get off the bus and what numbers they might be looking for to get onto a route.”
Davit said that once the group arrives at the STA Plaza — the central hub where all bus lines connect — she walks attendees through how the transfer system works and how to move efficiently between routes.
Launched in 2023, the fully electric City Line includes two stops on GU’s campus. Davit said she hopes to use this public resource to encourage students to become confident in navigating Spokane’s transit network, promoting public transportation as a more sustainable alternative to driving.
Davit said that the primary focus of the tours is to alleviate the stress or nerves surrounding riding the bus, because it should be seen as a useful tool to get places instead of being something scary.
“We want to let students know the bus is an option, and sometimes students are scared to ride the bus because they don’t know how to,” Davit said. “I say that because I was a freshman and came from a small town where there was no bus system, and then I came here and realized I didn’t know how to ride the bus.”
Sylvia Blodorn, the sustainability and resilience program coordinator at GU, said she oversees programs that include GU’s Student Sustainability Leadership program, the Sustainability Ambassador program and the Resilience Academy for Community Members program.
“The buses that we have in Spokane are really a fantastic system, and they go pretty much anywhere with a little bit of walking,” Blodorn said. “A lot of them are hybrid or electric buses, so the City Line that runs through Gonzaga runs every 10 minutes and is all-electric, so a really impressive electric bus system. It is more sustainable than something like driving to campus, because STA has a large focus on reducing emissions and ensuring that folks get where they want to go with fewer emissions.”
Beyond the environmental benefits, Davit said that becoming comfortable with STA’s routes and the app features can make public transit a more useful tool for campus life.
Davit said the most reliable way to ensure the app’s QR code works is to open the app and generate a fresh code immediately before scanning. Later in the day — whether boarding a different bus or re-entering the same one — the best practice is to fully close the app and reopen it before displaying the code again.
Included in the bus tours, Blodorn said, there is free coffee for the first 10 people who attend.
“It’s just really low stress, and it’s a way to get familiar with the bus system and experience riding a bus,” Blodorn said. “It’s kind of spooky to get on a bus by yourself sometimes if you don’t really know the process and what it looks like. If it is something you’re interested in, and you maybe want to cut down on your gas bill, or you just want a different way to get downtown sometimes, I’d highly recommend coming out to one of the bus tours.”
Source: https://www.gonzagabulletin.com/
