STA Plaza
STA Plaza | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STA transit center | ||||||||||||||||
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| Location | 701 West Riverside Avenue, Spokane, WA 99201 | |||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 47°39′27″N 117°25′22″W / 47.657565°N 117.422663°W | |||||||||||||||
| Owned by | Spokane Transit Authority | |||||||||||||||
| Bus stands | 13 | |||||||||||||||
| Connections | Travel Washington Gold Line | |||||||||||||||
| Construction | ||||||||||||||||
| Disabled access | Yes | |||||||||||||||
| Other information | ||||||||||||||||
| Website |
spokanetransit | |||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||
| Opened | July 16, 1995[1] | |||||||||||||||
| Traffic | ||||||||||||||||
| Passengers |
19,933 (avg. weekday, 2015)[2] 5.2+ million annually (weekday) | |||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||
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The STA Plaza (The Plaza or Spokane Transit Authority Plaza), is a transit center located in Downtown Spokane, Washington. It is the main hub of customer service and transit operations for the Spokane Transit Authority (STA), with 27 out of its 34 bus routes beginning and terminating at The Plaza. Transit operations through the Plaza resemble that of an airline hub, with banks of buses arriving and departing in waves (as frequently as every 7 minutes), providing timed transfer opportunities for passengers.
It is one of Spokane Transit's three primary transit centers, along with the Spokane Community College and Pence-Cole Valley transit centers.
The facility opened in the summer of 1995 and was designed by Tan Boyle Heyamoto Architects.[3]
History
Prior to the construction of the STA Plaza, Spokane Transit's downtown bus operations were dispersed outdoors along downtown streets obstructing storefronts and congesting sidewalks.[4]
As early as the 1970s, discussions were in place to centralize operations and create an indoor facility for passengers to wait and make transfers. The initial proposal was a public-private partnership that would have built the transit center on the ground floor of a new high rise office and retail building. However, after the deal collapsed, the plan evolved into a two-story building to be developed by Spokane Transit Authority.[5]
References
- ↑ Hansen, Dan (July 18, 1995). "Running Smoothly Buses And Riders At The New Sta Plaza Get Through First Monday Rush Hour With Little Trouble". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
- ↑ "Annual Performance Report – Passenger Facilities Edition No. 4 (2015 Data)". Spokane Transit Authority.
- ↑ Foster, J. Todd (January 29, 1995). "The Money Pit Cost Overruns Plague Sta's Plaza Three Years Ago, Price Was $12 Million, Now It's $20 Million". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
- ↑ Webster, John. "STA Plaza Rolls In New Era For City". The Spokesman-Review. The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
- ↑ Hansen, Dan (July 16, 1995). "Sta Plaza Opens New $20.6 Million Downtown Center Lets Passengers Loiter In Style". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved August 17, 2016.