Topic

Public Transit Services in the Mat-Su Borough

Public transportation services are available throughout most of the Mat-Su Borough. The MSB manages transit in the core urbanized area, while other organizations offer services that cover most communities along the Glenn and Parks Highways.

MSB-Managed Transit Services

The Mat-Su Borough is in its second year of contracting with the service provider, Valley Transit, to provide fixed-route commuter bus service between the Mat-Su Borough and Anchorage, and curb-to-curb service within the Borough.

For commuter service, Valley Transit offers 14 round trips per weekday and 4 round trips on Saturday. Fares are $7 one-way and $10 round trip. Monthly passes are available for $120. Passengers are dropped off at the downtown bus depot in Anchorage, where they can transfer to People Mover buses that run throughout the city.

For curb-to-curb service, Valley Transit provides rides in minibuses or transit vans between 6:00am to 8:00pm, Monday through Saturday, based on availability. The service area is broken into 9 zones (a 10th zone, the Fishhook Zone, is coming soon), spanning from Port MacKenzie and Big Lake in the west to Butte in the east. Fares are $3 per zone for the general public and $2 per zone for seniors (60+) and youth (17 & younger).

To Learn More

For more information on both types of services and to book a ride, visit the Valley Transit website. Valley Transit

We want to hear from you about your transit experience!

The MSB and Valley Transit are working together to continuously improve services in our Borough. Please take a few minutes to fill out our short feedback form. Thank you for choosing to use public transit!

Transit Services Feedback

Other Transit Service Providers in the Mat-Su Borough

Chickaloon Area Transit System

The Chickaloon Native Village operates a demand response public transit service, the Chickaloon Area Transit System (CATs), to residents within their service area between milepost 70 and milepost 40 of the Glenn Highway. CATs operates from Monday through Friday. The fare is $3 per ride for adults, and $2 per ride for Elders and Students.

Chickaloon Area Transit System Website

Sunshine Transit

Sunshine Transit provides transportation services for communities in the Upper Susitna Valley, including Talkeetna, Trapper Creek, Willow, Caswell, and Houston. Rides to and from main stops are free. Routes and schedules vary by day and location, including service into Wasilla.

Sunshine Transit Website

Background

In December 2022, the U.S. Census designated a portion of the Core Area of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (MSB) as an “urbanized area” or UZA. Along with the new designation comes a change in Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding allocations. Non-profit transit and health and human service organizations operate transit in the borough and rely on FTA 5311 Rural Transit funding for operations. Within the UZA, 5311 funding is no longer allowed, and providers must instead use FTA 5307 (Urban Transit) funds. Unlike the 5311 Rural Transit funds, 5307 cannot be given directly to a non-profit organization. Instead, FTA and the State of Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (AKDOT&PF) have worked with the borough to assign a direct recipient to receive the funds. A direct recipient must be a local governmental organization that, in our case, will facilitate pass-through grant funding or will contract transit providers for services in the UZA.

Through this process, the MSB was selected to be the direct recipient of the funding, authorized by the local Assembly Members and confirmed by the Governor. Funding allocated by the FTA will require a 50% match from the MSB for operation expenses and a 20% match for capital expenses. The Assembly Members approved a match amount of $1,000,000 in the FY27 budget, and the Borough is applying for about $1,960,000 in FTA 5307 funds.