Pocatello Regional Transit
 |
|
 |
|
| Headquarters | Pocatello, Idaho 83204 |
|---|---|
| Locale | 5815 South 5th Avenue |
| Service area | Bannock County, Bingham County, Bear Lake County, Box Elder County, Caribou County, Franklin County, Power County |
| Service type | Transit bus, Paratransit |
| Website | pocatellotransit.com Official Website |
Pocatello Regional Transit (PRT) is the primary provider of mass transportation in Southeast Idaho and is a department within the City of Pocatello (Public Transit Department). Transit services being provided by PRT in Idaho Transportation District #5 have been greatly assisted by County and Municipal organizations, Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Residents & visitors within the service area are all eligible to ride and the welcome is extended to come & "TAKE YOUR SEAT" on the bus.
Privately operated rubber tired motorized Streetcar service was operated in the Pocatello area at least as early as World War I (Circa 1917), with that type of conveyance plying the streets between the city's downtown and The Academy (Now Idaho State University) and other locations. These early beginnings of public transit in Pocatello expanded to significant private public bus service in succeeding decades with the costs of capitalization and operations being met through inexpensive fares. Private automobile ownership was not what it is today and the bus services thrived. However, by the mid 1960s this situation began to change with most privately owned intra-city public bus services in the United States no longer financially sustainable. Pocatello's privately owned bus services pretty much went out of service before 1965 and there would be a period of some fifteen years before any regularly scheduled fixed-route public transit system would be seen on the streets of Pocatello.
Pocatello Regional Transit (PRT), as it is known today, originated with the South Eastern Idaho Community Action Agency's (SEICAA) creation of a targeted and limited door-to-door service for senior citizens in 1972. This one bus system, using an old surplus army vehicle, was known as Tello Bus. Throughout the 70's the service capability and area expanded to include senior bus service in Pocatello and some areas of Bannock County. Title IIIB, state senior citizen transportation funding along with Bannock County, City of Pocatello and SEICAA financial assistance represented the operational and capital foundation until 1978. This was also the year that the system was able to extend service to include persons with disabilities regardless of age.
Tello Bus became Urban Transit in 1980 (subsequently called Pocatello Urban Transit—PUT) with a loop opposed loop fixed route service for the general public added to its door-to-door services for seniors and persons with disabilities. In 1982, in an action responding to the 1980 census which made Pocatello a small urbanized area, the City of Pocatello assumed responsibility for the administration and operations of the transit system.
Also in the late 1970s and early 1980s, UMTA (Urban Mass Transportation Administration, later called FTA—Federal Transit Administration.) began to provide some funding assistance for rural public transit. This policy change greatly assisted the local transit system in making it possible to serve the broader general public needs in Pocatello and the rural areas. After 1982, when Pocatello became a small urban area, the funding assistance was separated for the small urban area and the rural areas of service. Pocatello Urban Transit (PUT) underwent a final name change in the late 1980s to the system name of Pocatello Regional Transit (PRT); reflecting its return to rural service, expanded urban fixed route service, and the inclusion of routes wholly serving the Idaho State University campus.
...
Wikipedia