There has been a lot of talk lately about a proposal to reduce about a mile-long section of Monroe Street from five lanes to three. Businesses are worried about the impact a long-term construction project will have on their bottom line, people who drive through the area are concerned about delays and a lot of people have voiced complaints about getting stuck behind buses stopping at multiple bus stops through the area if there is just one lane in each direction.

According to The Inlander, Monroe is STA’s third busiest route, with nearly 650 bus trips taken on the route every week. So the newspaper asked STA how things will work with buses stopping to pickup and drop off passengers on a narrowed roadways.

To start, the Inlander reports, STA plans to reduce the number of bus stops in that stretch- but only by one stop, so there will be a total of three stops.

STA officials are hoping that off-board ticketing that lets bus riders pay ahead of time will speed up the boarding process and “level boarding” will put wheelchairs at the same level as the buses, which will reduce the time required to load them onto buses.

Even if STA didn’t reduce stops or implement the other technology that could speed things up, officials say the lane reductions would only add about 25 seconds to your commute during the “rush hour” period.

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