Nov. 20, 2019
FlixBus Offers CWU Students, Community a Sustainable, Affordable Way to Travel
CWU students, employees, and other Ellensburg residents will be introduced this week to a new mode of public transportation that will provide convenient, low-cost travel around the region.
Starting Thursday, November 21, the environmentally conscious transit service FlixBus will shuttle travelers from Ellensburg to Seattle, Portland, Spokane, and other Northwest locales for as little as $9.99 one way.
The distinctive, lime-green buses will be available seven days a week, making additional stops in Tacoma and Olympia, Washington; Albany, Eugene, Salem, and Corvallis, Oregon; and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
“This service will be of great value to our students by providing daily services to and from Ellensburg and offering an alternative to students who do not want to bring their car to campus,” said Andreas Bohman, CWU’s vice president of operations.
Ellensburg riders can board FlixBus at 900 E. 10th Ave., on the yellow curbside north of Starbucks, adjacent to the entrance to the CWU parking lot on University Avenue. Route schedules are available at flixbus.com and on the FlixBus smartphone app.
FlixBus — a German company that offers service in parts of the U.S. and 28 European countries — announced its Northwest expansion plans November 8.
“FlixBus focuses on the sustainability of their buses, lower prices, and free Wi-Fi — something that is likely to appeal to our students,” Bohman said. “We are excited to provide sustainable options to our students, and we see this partnership as part of our ongoing strategies around sustainability, active transportation, and long-term student mobility solutions.”
More than half of CWU students are from the Puget Sound area, and FlixBus will give them another way to travel across the mountains. CWU staff, faculty, and others in the community also can take advantage of the service to visit Seattle or Spokane any day of the week, for business or pleasure.
“We are trying to reimagine what long-distance bus travel can be for students, and this is a way for them to travel around the region conveniently and affordably,” said FlixBus representative Julie Alvarez. “We’ve designed our schedule and stop locations with the goal of accommodating students’ needs, but we are excited to provide service to all Ellensburg residents.”
FlixBus will provide single pick-up and drop-off locations in each of its Northwest cities, hoping to complement other forms of public transportation like city buses, subways, light rail lines, and ride-sharing services.
“We want students to break free of the single-car-use mentality and show them that there’s a better way to spend three or four hours on the road,” Alvarez said. “And now, they can visit people more often because they can afford to.”
Other long-distance bus services offered in Central Washington include the Bellair Airporter, Greyhound and the Yakima-Ellensburg Commuter.
Media contact: David Leder, Department of Public Affairs, 509-963-1518, David.Leder@cwu.edu.