The rollout of Kitsap Transit’s Sunday bus service was set to continue with routes scheduled in Port Orchard, Silverdale and Poulsbo according to a Feb. 14 news release.

Now a Feb. 27 release indicates that the Sunday service expansion is off the table for the foreseeable future as the agency works to evaluate the potential impacts of losing the state’s Climate Commitment Act, which was estimated to provide $5.4 billion in funding to transit and transportation programs across a 16-year span in Washington.

KT has used CCA dollars to fund transit operations and ACCESS services, along with continuing work on an all-electric ferry for local foot ferry routes. Initiative 2117, which will go to voters on the November ballot, would repeal the CCA.

Executive director John Clauson said, “We need to pause this Sunday service expansion until we’ve had the opportunity to evaluate all the impacts we could face from I-2117 and give our board the time to consider changes to our roadmap should we lose Climate Commitment funding.”

Phase 1 of the transportation agency’s efforts to resume Sunday bus routes began Sept. 24 last year with Route 217 running between Bremerton and Silverdale. That route will not be affected by the pause according to the KT leadership.

KT had originally planned to start Phase 2 routes late last year but was unable to do so. With operator recruitment improving, Port Orchard, Silverdale and Poulsbo were expected to begin running Sunday bus service March 10. The second phase of the expansion would have included Route 8-Bethel in Port Orchard, which runs between the downtown ferry dock and the South Kitsap Fred Meyer and would provide commuters with a connection to and from Bremerton via the agency’s foot ferry route. Route 332 between the Silverdale Transit Center and the North Viking Transit Center in Poulsbo was also to be resumed.

A new timeline of the resumption of the Sunday bus service restoration has not yet been provided.