In the early 1980s, then-unincorporated Spokane Valley and its surrounding area was home to over 90,000 residents but was served by just two bus routes. At the time, public transportation in the Spokane region was controlled by the City of Spokane'sowned and operatedSpokane Transit System. Therefore, both routes headed toward Downtown Spokane, making transfers and connections within the Valley impossible. Riders had to needlessly travel 7 miles out of direction just to make a connection to the other route serving the Valley. Additionally, due to funding issues with the existing system, routes destined for outside city limits were in danger of being eliminated on April 1, 1981. To save transit service outside Spokane city limits, voters approved a plan on March 10, 1981 to replace the City of Spokane's owned and operated system with a new, county-wide transit system, known as Spokane Transit Authority. Voters overwhelmingly passed the measure by over 70 percent. Voter eligibility represented over 90 percent of the residents in Spokane County. A second major purpose of the county-wide taxpayer funded transit system was to radically transform and develop public transportation outside the city limits of Spokane. The Pence-Cole Valley Transit Center was a cornerstone of that plan. The construction of the transit center, which opened in 1989, enabled localized transit to be a possibility for Spokane Valley. Numerous local routes were developed, as well as regional routes that allowed passengers to travel directly to major activity centers around the Spokane region, without having to pass through Downtown Spokane. Today, the VTC serves as the terminus and connecting hub for six STA routes. Because of the transit center's historical prominence in the transformation of Spokane Transit's operations, the center is named for former Millwood mayor and STA board member, Clarence Pence, as well as Bob Cole, who played prominent role in the aforementioned expansion of public transportation in the Spokane region.
The Pence-Cole Valley Transit Center played a key role in STA's early 2000s light rail proposal. The transit center would have been incorporated into the proposed University City Station which was identified as one of three key stations along the light rail route that would spurn nearly $1 billion in transit oriented development under the principles of new urbanism. Forecasts projected the station to be a catalyst for the development of the University City town center, which would have seen as many as 2,300 residential units, 231,000 square feet of office space, and 115,000 square feet of retail space developed over time.
