Monday marks the start of the new, but also old, Valley Shuttle service in Snoqualmie Valley. Starting at 5:30 a.m. that day, three small buses, marked with the Metro Transit colors and the words “Valley Shuttle,” will enter service as the only public transportation option connecting Duvall, North Bend, and all points in between.
“We’re pretty excited,” says Amy Biggs, director of Snoqualmie Valley Transportation, which is administering the Valley Shuttle program. “It’s really unique, Metro’s never done it.”
Metro, after studying Snoqualmie Valley’s transportation needs and gathering public input from more than 500 local riders, is contracting with SVT for Valley Shuttle services for the next five years, as part of its Alternative Services program. The shuttle is one of two additions —the other is a new route 208 connecting North Bend, Snoqualmie Ridge and the Issaquah Transit Center, afternoons and Saturdays—in a package of sweeping changes that eliminate most Metro routes within the Valley and several to and from the area during the day.
The shuttle’s route, with stops in Duvall, Carnation, Fall City, North Bend and three in Snoqualmie, is also the “last connection” in the Valley, said Metro supervisor Matt Hansen in a presentation earlier this year, and thus safe from further Metro cuts.