King County officials announced last week that they are moving ahead with three of the four alternative transportation possibilities put forth to islanders last April.

The plan, headed by Metro’s Alternative Services Program, includes developing a community transportation hub, providing community vans for pre-arranged rides and offering a ride share program via a smart phone app.

The transportation alternatives, to be implemented in the coming months, stemmed from the county’s effort on the island to develop options to supplement Vashon’s fixed-route bus service.

Central to the proposed options is the creation of a transportation hub, said Cathy Snow, who heads the Alternative Services Program. The hub could be either a physical or online center that serves as a place for islanders to connect to share rides or learn about local transportation options. The coordinator — not yet hired — would manage the hub and promote van services.

“That person is really key to making both of those solutions go,” Snow said.

In other King County communities that use transportation hubs, the county partners with city government to create and run them, but on Vashon the county is partnering with the Chamber of Commerce, and an agreement is currently being worked out. When that is completed, the hiring process for the transportation coordinator will follow.

“Once that person is in place, things can happen fairly quickly,” Snow said. “We do have a small fleet of vehicles that are waiting in the wings.”

The vans, which will be driven by island volunteers, accommodate light wheelchairs and can hold five passengers. Snow said the trips will not be for spur-of-the moment needs, but for pre-arranged trips, such as from a designated spot to the farmers market, or regular, standing rides, such as weekly trips to the food bank to volunteer or pick up food. She noted that initially, the plan does not call for door-to-door service, but that will be monitored and addressed if necessary.

The program will start with at least two vans, Snow added, and they will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week as long there is a driver and at least two passengers.

Currently, the county is piloting a community van program in Duvall, and Snow said trips are happening, though county staff has learned they need to be diligent about promoting the service.

In addition to the van service, King County is also planning on launching a program called Real-Time Rideshare, an informal carpooling option that matches riders and drivers via the smartphone app iCarpool.

Snow noted the county’s role with that service will be to help ensure that islanders know about it through marketing efforts and incentives.

In March, Alternative Services Program representatives said that 200 people had signed up for the service in Redmond, where it was being piloted. Last week, however, Snow said it has been slow to gain traction there. The app has been upgraded, and Snow said the county plans to relaunch the program in January in Redmond, and the launch on Vashon will follow it.

The transportation option that had been proposed, but which the county is not currently pursuing, is called Open Door Access. This program would enable riders who are not disabled to ride the Access vans. Snow said after further analysis of the current Access program, it appeared there was not as much capacity for additional riders as originally thought. Because of that, the Open Door Access proposal now has wait-and-see status.

“We want to move forward with the community van and monitor the experience of the community with that solution,” she said.

As part of King County’s effort on Vashon, transportation officials surveyed islanders regarding their needs and worked with a community panel to address problems and create possible solutions over a period of several months. A roll out for services had been expected as early as last summer, but now is expected in the early part of 2017.