Bus service between Whidbey Island and Skagit County will come to an end this summer unless Island Transit officials are able to carve out enough money from the agency’s limited budget to finance the route.

The Island Transit board decided last Friday to hold a special meeting Monday, April 13 to discuss the future of the tri-county connector. The options are to eliminate the route this summer or provide a much-reduced version of the route.

“It is in the best interest of Island Transit to provide the community with whatever we possibly can,” said Ken Graska, interim director for Island Transit. “We’ll do our best with what we’ve got.”

The tri-county connector, or Route 411, currently travels from Oak Harbor, across Deception Pass Bridge to March’s Point, where riders can pick up a Skagit Transit bus and even connect with a Whatcom County bus at a later stop.

Last summer, Island Transit shut down the Everett connector that linked Camano Island and Snohomish County because state funding of the route ended.

State funding for bus service between Whidbey and Skagit ends June 30 and the route may face the same fate.

The route provides a vital link to work, doctor’s appointments and other services for the community.

Gayle Zachaukirk, a disabled veteran, relies on the 411 to get to and from medical appointments in Mount Vernon. She wasn’t happy when the route was changed last year from “a straight shot” between Oak Harbor to Mount Vernon to a connection at March’s Point even though the state funding hadn’t changed at that point.

She blames former director Martha Rose for the mismanagement of the budget.

Zachaukirk is not sure what she’ll do if the route is cancelled altogether.

“People may not understand the difficulties veterans endure on a daily basis,” she said. “Many go without health care simply due to the associated stressors of getting to that facility.”

Island Transit officials and local leaders lobbied state lawmakers to continue funding the tri-county connector, but the money doesn’t appear to be in either state transportation bill, according to Graska.

The financial problems with Island Transit that arose last year made it a difficult sell in Olympia, according to Oak Harbor City Councilman Rick Almberg, who’s the chairman of the Island Transit board.

“What I’ve heard is that they want us to get our house in order before they’re willing to hand us anymore money,” he said.

One sticking point for state lawmakers is Island Transit’s fare-free service; they want to see fares, which the transit board members said they will consider.

In addition, Graska said the board approved his plan to clean up another relic of the agency’s past — the proliferation of unneeded buses. The board voted to declare 21 buses and 12 staff and support vehicles as surplus.

For now, the board has to decide whether the agency can afford to continue a limited version of the off-island route without state funding and whether that even makes sense, Graska said.

“We may be able to provide a bare-bones, skeletal service on these routes,” he said, stressing that it would be a much reduced level of service.