The New Flyer Xcelsior 60' articulating electric buses implemented on the City Line accommodate bikes on board the bus via the rear doors.

[21] Traditional fareboxes remain on all fixed route coaches, allowing riders to pay with cash or older media as described below.

[23][24] The fare collection system, developed by INIT, can accept the Connect Card via NFC and the mobile eConnect app.

Spokane Transit is governed by a board of directors which includes nine positions filled by elected officials who must be appointed by the municipal jurisdictions that form the agency, and one position appointed by the Board upon recommendation by the labor organizations representing the public transportation employees within the local public transportation system pursuant to state law.

[46] Over the next several decades, multiple private interests constructed and operated streetcars and cable cars typically as an integral part of a real estate development plan.

Its network of lines was described as a "cartwheel" that emanated from a "hub" at the intersection of Riverside Avenue and Howard Street in downtown Spokane.

In addition to urban street railways, each company had interests in electric Interurban lines that stretched as far away as Moscow, Idaho.

[48] The decade following 1910 was a time of intense competition for the streetcars, with growing automobile ownership and private jitneys that threatened the viability of a divided transit system.

By the end of the decade, Spokane Traction Company fell into receivership and underwent reorganizations that were unsuccessful in returning the system to profitability.

In 1922, Spokane citizens overwhelmingly voted to amend the city charter to reduce taxes and other special assessments imposed on streetcar operations and infrastructure, enabling the formation of a unified streetcar system featuring "universal transfers" between lines and empowering the company to convert some lines to trolleybuses on its own discretion.

[49][50] Following the successful measure, the Spokane United Railway Company was formed as a subsidiary to Washington Water Power (later, Avista Corporation), creating a unified electric streetcar system.

[52] In 1980, a municipal corporation was created to administer mass transit services for a new public transportation benefit area (PTBA).

Due to rapid inflation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the flat $1 city tax on households that had funded Spokane Transit System was no longer keeping up with the rising costs of its era.

[53] The name change officially took effect on September 23, 1982, after the START Board passed a resolution renaming the municipal corporation to Spokane Transit Authority.

With its high, daylight ceiling, imported Italian tile, and cougar statues leaping over a waterfall between the up- and down- escalators, it generated great controversy.

The period after the elimination of the motor vehicle excise tax was a time of unprecedented change for Spokane Transit.

As its undesignated cash reserves balance fell, Spokane Transit attempted to increase its tax authority from 0.3% to 0.6% in September 2002, but it was rejected by voters 48% to 52%.

Research following the failed ballot measure pointed to limited understanding of the agency's organizational structure, performance and financial conditions.

[57] Spokane Transit created task force to study changes that could be made to regain the support of the community, while simultaneously preparing for a potential 40% service decrease.

In 2006 the committee published a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) which evaluated several rail and bus alternatives for the corridor.

The plan calls for a network of high performance transit with frequent service connecting key neighborhoods and activity centers throughout the region.

[61] In response to a significant decline in sales tax revenue resulting from the Great Recession, Spokane Transit undertook service reductions in 2010 and 2011.

[62] Despite the cuts, ridership increased, reaching an all-time high for Spokane Transit Authority in 2014, with 11.3 million passengers on its fixed route system.

[63] In 2016, voters approved an increase in the sale tax dedicated to public transit to implement the STA Moving Forward plan.

The locally preferred alternative was adopted in July 2011, calling for an east–west alignment for an electric, rubber-tired vehicle, and was dubbed the Central City Line.