PORT ANGELES — Free bus service is available for North Olympic Peninsula veterans who need to get to appointments at Seattle hospitals during the Hood Canal Bridge closure.
The Hood Canal Bridge closed today at 12:01 a.m. for an estimated six weeks while its eastern half is replaced.
The service for veterans in both Clallam and Jefferson counties begins Monday. The service will be available Monday through Friday, with veterans riding on the Dungeness Line of Olympic Bus Lines.
Reservations can be made from anywhere in both counties by phoning 360-457-5251.
Reservations for the entire Peninsula are being handled through the Port Angeles Disabled American Veterans office.
The volunteer coordinating reservations, Dave Perrin, is available Monday through Friday. The best hours to phone him are between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. An answering machine will pick up at other times, and a message can left.
Volunteer coordinators in Sequim and Port Townsend will make reservations through him, he said.
Phone early
“We prefer a week’s notice [for reservations], but we need 72-hour notice at a minimum, said Karen Key, department service officer for the Veterans Transportation Network of the Disabled American Veterans, who is supervising the transportation for the Peninsula.
The network arranged the travel on the private bus line during the bridge closure, she said.
The Dungeness Bus Line has no reserved seating for veterans, so reservations will be made on a first-come, first-serve basis, Perrin said.
“The more notice I get, the more chances that I’ll have a seat on the Dungeness Bus Line,” he said.
The bus rides will be paid, for eligible veterans, through vouchers from the federal Office of Veterans Affairs, Key said, while those of veterans who are not eligible for those vouchers will be funded by the state Department of Transportation.
DAV workers will process that information when veterans phone for reservations, she said.
At that time, veterans also will be told how to access the free service.
Bus stops
No shuttle has been arranged from the West End communities of Forks, Clallam Bay-Sekiu or Neah Bay to Port Angeles, she said. Veterans from the West End will need to get to Port Angeles on their own.
Veterans in Port Angeles will leave from The Gateway transit center at First and Lincoln streets. In Sequim, they will leave from a bus stop near Tarcicio’s at 609 W. Washington St. In Port Townsend, they leave from the Safeway Food & Drug parking lot at 442 W. Sims Way.
Pre-bridge closure, the DAV provided rides to and from Seattle to veterans using its van, based at the Clallam County Veterans Center at 261 S. Francis St., in Port Angeles.
“Last month, in April, I carried 84 people, just from Port Angeles and Sequim,” Perrin said.
The van service has been short of drivers, he added, so recently it has operated only Monday through Wednesday.
During the bridge closure, if drivers are available, veterans leaving from Port Angeles may be able to get rides in the DAV van to The Gateway center from the veterans center — if drivers, all of whom are volunteers, are available, Perrin said.
“Right now, I’m really short on drivers,” he said. “With the bridge closure, the regular drivers I do have are taking their vacations.”
If the van is not available, Perrin said, veterans will be advised to leave their cars at the Port Angeles veterans center and take a cab to The Gateway.
The free service was available beginning today, Perrin said, but no reservations had been made.
On Thursday, he said, “I have one booked for Monday and maybe another for Tuesday.”
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsula dailynews.com.
