Spokane Transit Authority highlights transit’s role in cutting emissions, electric fleet and BRT funding

Emily Poole, chief planning and development officer at Spokane Transit Authority, briefed the board on April 1 about how public transit supports the city's greenhouse-gas reduction goals. STA reported 10.4 million passenger trips in 2025 and estimated that those rides replaced roughly 7 million car trips across the region when measured against a 1.5-occupant-per-vehicle national average.

Poole outlined fleet and route performance measures, noting STA's approach of measuring energy use per passenger mile and explaining that a bus needs roughly five passengers to be as energy-efficient per passenger as a single-occupancy vehicle. She said STA operates 40 battery-electric buses (about 25% of the fleet) and described Route 4 as a fully electric, high-ridership route that carried more than one million rides in 2024.

Poole also briefed members on a planned Division bus rapid transit (BRT) upgrade (Route 25) and said the federal Consolidated Infrastructure Grant (CIG) identified $82,000,000 for the Division BRT project in federal appropriations tied to a 2027 project timeline; the project would add zero-emission buses and identify funding for charging infrastructure. She said STA's board has approved $2,000,000 for a transit-oriented development (TOD) pilot at an STA-owned South Hill Park & Ride to study market readiness and feasibility.

Members asked about how BRT service and bus lanes improve reliability and about trade-offs between bus energy type (battery electric vs. renewable diesel) and greenhouse-gas metrics; STA staff noted that metrics vary with energy source and fleet mix and that further engineering analysis can provide exact greenhouse-gas comparisons.