You’re invited to a community meeting
|| FROM COLIN WILLIAMS for RURAL PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ||||
Let’s talk public transit for Orcas & the San Juan Islands. Hosted by the Friends of Rural Public Transportation
- Date & Time — Tuesday, March 31, 2026 , 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
- Location: Orcas Island Public Library Community Room
- Online Meeting Link
Imagine Orcas & the San Juan Islands where…
- You can hop on a bus from the ferry to Eastsound, Doe Bay, or Deer Harbor.
- Kids can get to activities independently.
- Neighbors have reliable backup transportation when their car is in the shop.
- You can catch a ride to Moran State Park or Turtleback Mountain.
- Visitors can explore our islands without adding to traffic.
- We reduce our carbon footprint, one shared ride at a time.
Why Now? The Island Challenge
The Ferry Squeeze: Keep cars off the ferry to create space for residents and essential services.
- The Distance Dilemma: Connect the ferry landing to Eastsound and beyond without a personal vehicle.
- The Hill Challenge: Provide an alternative to cycling for those who find our terrain difficult.
Join Us & Share Your Vision!
This is a community-driven initiative in the early visioning stages. We welcome all perspectives and ideas.
Whether you have ideas for routes, funding expertise, or simply believe this vision is worth pursuing—your voice matters.
What we’re building together:
A system for families, seniors, workers, visitors, and our environment.
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
I have no comment on the public transit options (thus far) but I do want to say that the use of AI-generated editorial imagery on The Orcasonian is disappointing.
We don’t need public transportation. We have private transportation. We’re good. My taxes are high enough, fuel prices are high enough. If folks are wealthy enough to live on Orcas, chances are, they can use the huge new parking lot at the ferry landing. Call a friend for a ride. Anything, but new taxes.
The fact that the van is driving down the wrong side of the road already speaks volumes about this initiative.
Mr Bowman,
FYI, we’re a completely volunteer driven organization so far. We have not yet taken any donation, public funds, or otherwise.
If you’re an artist or know an artist. Who is in favor of Public Transit and would like to contribute to art. We’d be more than happy to look at their contributions.
RR Davis; I’m sure you are aware that a large percentage of orcas residents are in fact NOT wealthy. You must be though, congrats on that.
At some point in the future, my wife and I may need public transportation when we stop driving, so I am interested in seeing some plan. However I am with RR Davis in that I am not interested in more taxes. But I would like to see some alternatives for the future.
For those curious about what we’re actually envisioning We’ve published several articles on our website that go into much more detail about the problem we’re trying to solve and the kinds of solutions we’re exploring. We’d love for you to read them.
http://forpt.org