Link Transit inaugurated two new runs for the route 21 between Wenatchee and Manson yesterday, the first leaves Wenatchee at 5 a.m. and arrives in Chelan at 6, with the return trip leaving Chelan at 6:43. The second new run leaves Wenatchee at 7:30 p.m., and arrives in Chelan an hour later, and leaves Chelan for the return trip to Wenatchee at 9:13. Link Transit Spokesman Erik West says the run is a result of popular demand:
Link has had success in recruiting new drivers lately, and that was a requirement for adding the new runs:
It may be a little late to be talking about August ridership numbers, but Link saw an eleven percent increase in ridership over the prior year, Saturday and Sunday boardings are triple of what they were when they started several years ago. As for Route 21 in August, West says more people were riding that, too:
As for drivers, West says Link has had classes of ten to twelve new drivers, who undergo four weeks of training before they set out on their own. He says if that continues, in a year or so Link may be at the point where they can expand service to where voters wanted it to be several years ago.