Boise Transportation

Greyhound Bus Lines, Boise-Winnemucca Stages, Northwestern Trailways, Valley Ride and Sun Valley Stages all pass through, and stop in, Boise.  Greyhound goes, well, everywhere—if you’re willing to make enough connections. Northwestern Trailways provides daily service between Boise and Spokane, Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston. Valley Ride connects Boise to other cities and towns within the Treasure Valley—Caldwell, Nampa, Eagle, Meridian, Middleton and Star. Sun Valley Stages offers daily service between Boise Airport and Sun Valley Resort.

Amtrak’s last passenger train rolled out of Boise in May 1997. Amtrak offers a bus connection to Boise (using Greyhound) from Portland, which is on its Cascades line. Boise transportation’s Train Depot remains, however, and is owned by the city. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The Boise Airport (BOI) is convenient to downtown and served by Delta/Sky West, Horizon Air, Southwest, United Airlines, Frontier and US Airways. Direct flights go to major cities, including Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Oakland, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and San Diego. The Boise Airport has free WiFi.

Driving in Boise is relatively painless, at least compared to other cities. Downtown is easy to negotiate, has plenty of paid meters and parking garages, and little heavy traffic. From the interstate, there are three ways to get downtown. From the east, take either the Broadway or Vista exits. Broadway is the easiest way to get to the popular East End and North End neighborhoods. From the west, hop onto the I-84 Connector. Once downtown, streets are easy to understand, alternating one-ways on a grid. North-South streets are numbered starting at the east edge of downtown and heading west; cross streets simply have names. State Street is a major artery that accesses all neighborhoods and smaller rural towns to the west. Where Boise transportation can get a little painful if you're driving is near Towne Square Mall and the intersection of the Connector and the I-84. It seems that no matter the time of day, unless you’re talking midnight, traffic’s almost always near gridlock there.

Boise taxis are a bargain. Rates are set by the city: initial charge is $2.20 and then $2.40 per mile. Sitting in traffic or stopped? It’ll cost you a mere 4 cents per minute. If you don't have your own car, and don't plan on renting, utilizing the city's taxis is the next best form of Boise transportation

Aside from driving and taxis, Boise transportation is limited to the bus (there are, however, plans for downtown trolley routes). Valley Ride has 15 weekday routes around Boise and adjacent Garden City, and eight Saturday routes. Depending on the route and time of day, buses run either every hour or 30 minutes. Buses don’t run Sundays. Weekdays and Saturdays, buses stop running at 6:45PM. Fares are reasonable—$1 for adults on a local route and $3 on a “universal” route. An adults’ single-day local pass is $2. A single-day universal pass is $6. Children under 5 ride free.  Major transfer points are the Downtown Boise Transit Mall, BSU Main Campus, BSU West Campus, Towne Square Mall, downtown Nampa, downtown Caldwell and Karcher Mall. All in all, you’re better off renting a car.