New Silverdale Transit Center will charge electric Kitsap Transit buses wirelessly

SILVERDALE – As passengers load and unload at the new Silverdale Transit Center, their buses will be storing up energy for their next ride.

Work is set to begin soon on the new Kitsap Transit center near the Highway 303-Ridgetop Boulevard overpass. The center is expected to open in the fall of 2023. A crowd of officials, including Gov. Jay Inslee and Federal Transit Administration head Nuria Fernandez, tossed the first shovelfuls of dirt in the rain on Thursday.

“Not only is this a transit center that’s going to be key to our entire operation, but it’s going to be the first transit system in Western Washington that we’re aware of that’s going to have a wireless charging capability for our battery-electric buses,” Kitsap Transit Executive Director John Clauson said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “We all know that the current technology with cell phones is that you just set your phone on the gizmo and it automatically charges. Well, we’re going to have a couple of those gizmos as a part of this project that the buses will just come over and stop and while they’re loading and offloading passengers, they’ll be able to be recharged. We’re pretty excited about that.”

More: Construction set to begin on new Kitsap Transit bus center in Silverdale

In the coming months the transit center will be built out on a humble property across Ridgetop Boulevard from St. Michael Medical Center. Coils installed in the pavement will automatically recharge battery-electric buses. Alongside the center, workers will also add a dedicated on-ramp for Kitsap Transit buses heading south on Highway 303.

The FTA provided nearly $10 million in federal grants for the project, the state’s Department of Transportation awarded $4.5 million for right-of-way acquisition and $2.5 million toward construction and Kitsap Transit provided $1.5 million toward design and engineering and $4 million for construction.

Inslee pointed to the benefits of new electric infrastructure, noting the threat of climate change.

“The way to avoid this is doing the kind of things we’re doing right there in Kitsap County,” he said. “An electric bus is a way to give our grandchildren an opportunity possibly to have salmon in our rivers and glaciers in Olympic National Park. That’s a good day’s work. I’m very happy about it in that perspective, but it’s also an economic development opportunity, because when we do things like this, we’re building a whole economic ecosystem.”

Kitsap Transit currently operates two electric buses, and by the end of 2024, the agency anticipates having a fleet of 30 electric buses.

The new facility has been in the works for a while. It will eventually replace the transit center at The Trails at Silverdale, a dead-end spur off Greaves Way. After having to leave its space at the Kitsap Mall, Kitsap Transit moved out to The Trails while it identified a new location for a transit center.

Nathan Pilling is a reporter covering Bainbridge Island, North Kitsap and Washington State Ferries for the Kitsap Sun. He can be reached at 360-792-5242, nathan.pilling@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter at @KSNatePilling.

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This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Work set to begin on new Silverdale Transit Center