Whitman students and other residents of Walla Walla now have an option other than persistent listserv e-mails if they want to get out of town without using their own car. Bellair Charters/Airporter Shuttle has started a new shuttle service between Walla Walla and Pasco.

The thrice daily service has three pickup locations in Walla Walla and will take you to Touchet, Wallula, Burbank and three locations in Pasco, including the Greyhound/Amtrak station and Pasco Airport. From the Pasco Transit Station you can easily get a Greyhound bus to take you to Seattle or Spokane, where students can make connections that will take you all over the U.S. and Canada.

The new service is a major plus for many Whitman students who do not have a car and often need to use mass transit in order to get to where they are going. One such student, Andreea Coca, agreed. “It is nice to be able to go to Pasco to catch a flight or a bus, go to the mall, change scenery. It saves money and gas.”

Closer to home it can be easy to navigate Walla Walla by the use of public transportation. Valley Transit has nine routes that run every half hour Monday through Friday, with some limited services on nights and weekends. The cost is only 25 cents which makes it affordable for even the poorest of college students.

From any of the bus stops around campus you can get on Route 1, which will take you with no transfers all the way to Andy’s Market, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Walla Walla Community College and many places in between. With only one simple transfer downtown the rest of Walla Walla is similarly accessible, with stops near Bi-Mart, Super One Foods, all of the public schools and many other locations.