Transportation Hubs
Transportation Hubs refers to an ecosystem of mobility services spread throughout the Missoula valley. MIST operates one of these hubs: the Free Cycles community bicycle shop located on S. 1st Street in the heart of Missoula. Other hubs already exist too, such as the Mountain Line Bus Transfer center, the University of Montana bicycle and electric bus services center, and a myriad of car rentals, vanpool park-and-rides and even shoe shops.
Let’s embrace, enhance and expand the transportation services needed for a sustainable future. Awareness and growth is in motion. Quite a bit of coordination remains to be done though, as switching transportation modes is often appropriate and usually inevitable. Take a bus? You’ll be walking to and from that bus stop more than likely. Drive a car? A walk to and from the parking spot must be factored in. Want to use a vanpool to get from the Bitterroot Valley to the Missoula Valley? There’s a strong chance that you’ll also be driving, walking, cycling or using public transit on the end of that vanpool trip. The longer the distance traveled, the more likely multiple modes of transportation will be involved.
One of the more exciting transportation projects on the horizon in the Missoula area is the return of passenger rail- right through our downtown. Imagine being able to walk or bike to the Depo at the end of Higgins, catch a train to Seattle, catch up on some sleep or reading on the way west, and then return to Missoula; all without the hassle or carbon footprint of flying or driving. The north end of Higgins offers an opportunity to focus several transportation services on one location. Examples include a bike share, a bus stop, taxi drop-off, and ride share. A train hub can be an excellent catalyst for multi-modal transportation, along with mixed use development.
A current intent and goal is to relaunch a community bike share system from the community bike shop hub on S. 1st St. We envision 200 standard, simple bicycles that can be loaned, shared or rented. The beginnings of MIST and Free Cycles both have their roots in shared mobility. The true Free Cycle was a green bike on a street corner, available for anyone to ride. These free-roaming cycles are considered 1st generation bike share. One hundred green bikes roamed the streets of Missoula from 1996 to 1999, with great fun and success. Ultimately, the green bikes were about sharing a community asset. The latest bike share programs tend to have electronic aspects, either in undocking the bike, in assisting with pedal action, wayfinding, or all of the above. We think a simpler version of community bike share, run by a local nonprofit, is just what Missoula needs.
To further a community network of transportation hubs, we work with the community to manage and schedule modes of transportation dovetailing together. We are also envisioning (and we encourage you to do the same) hubs that do not exist yet. We envision a natural, organic ecosystem of mobility services that grows on its own.
We’ve started and ended this post with the word ecosystem. Monocultures tend to be unhealthy, risky and susceptible to catastrophe. Ecosystems tend to be resilient, sustainable and foster cooperation. We’re quite hopeful and optimistic that Missoula is well positioned to bring forth an ecosystem of transportation options.