PT Tomorrow "Reduction Plan"Pierce Transit has just updated its PT Tomorrow webpage with the latest draft alternatives. More public meetings are going to be held in June at the following times:
BONNEY LAKE
June 2nd 5:00-7:00pm
Bonney Lake Senior Center
19304 Bonney Lake Blvd, Bonney Lake 98390
Served by Route 407
PARKLAND/SPANAWAY
June 3rd 4:30-6:30pm
Pacific Lutheran University, East Campus (Gym),
Corner of 121st S & Pacific Ave, Tacoma 98447
Served by Routes 1, 45, 55, 204, 410, 444
PUYALLUP/SOUTH HILL/SUMNER
June 7th 4:30-6:30pm
Kalles Junior High School (Commons)
501 Seventh Ave SE, Puyallup 98372
Served by Route 402
LAKEWOOD/UNIVERSITY PLACE
June 8th 4:30-6:30pm
Pierce Transit Training Center
3720 96th St SW, Lakewood 98499
Served by Routes 48, 300
TACOMA
June 9th 4:30-6:30pm
The Evergreen State College (Commons)
1210 6th Ave, Tacoma 98405
Served by Routes 1, 16, 28, 57
GIG HARBOR/KEY PENINSULA
June 10th 4:30-6:30pm
Civic Center (Council Chambers)
3510 Grandview St, Gig Harbor 98335
Served by Route 100
Meeting will also be held in Korean and Spanish:
Junta Pública en Español
May 24th 4:30-6:30pm
Portland Avenue Community Center
3513 E. Portland Ave., Tacoma 98404
Served by Route 54
(Meeting is held in Spanish)
Presentation in English with Korean translation
May 26th, 11:00am
Korean Women’s Association
123 East 96th Street, Tacoma 98445
Served by Route 1
(Presentation with questions after)
Tacoma Tomorrow will have much more in depth analysis of the alternatives coming shortly.
Posts
Obviously the Alternative 1, with massive reductions would be a disaster.
ReplyDeleteAlternative 2 appears to be a huge improvement over what was the previous proposed routings.
I'm having trouble reading the details on some of the route maps. Is the 703 going north down Orchard and then swinging around south to hit 26th and Proctor, then back on Union...? I was just kinda wishing for a cross town bus that would hit the heart of the 6th Ave. district.
I really think that So Tacoma will love having that 1X route down Pacific Ave. Got a little jealousy about that one. Wish the 1X would continue up 6th Ave with just a few strategic stops. C'est la vie.
Old Town retains service, and the new route picks up more neighborwoods (and riders) on the north west end of its route. Smart idea imo, since I've never understood why the 13 terminated at 30th and Pearl where no one actually lives.
And Puyallup finally will get their moneys worth with the 402 connecting Puyallup South Hill to DT Puyallup, then straight over to DT T-Town. Recently, I was on the Sounder and a tree had fallen over between Puyallup and Tacoma, it was then that I realized that there wasn't a direct way to get from Puyallup to Tacoma. The indirect way via 72nd and Portland Ave, then another transfer took over an hour. My guess is that that will become a very popular route.
http://pttomorrow.org/documents/north_zoom.pdf
ReplyDeleteThat's an accurate depiction of what they're proposing. It's improved since the last time I saw it. The route to Westgate moved to 26th St (thanks to my kicking and screaming) - so now we have a connection between three mixed use centers (Westgate, Proctor, and Stadium).
There are still several deficiencies - the crosstown routing being one of them, also UPS faces a significant service cut and the North End still lacks a connection to Point Defiance without a transfer on Pearl St. Getting to TCC from Proctor requires a transfer, but perhaps it should?
I also don't like all of the emphasis on Orchard St. There will be an implementation phase where we can fix some of this. I am also working to get the city to start a transit master plan.
Even at .9%, Tacoma isn't going to get everything it needs, we may have to go to the voters in the North End for additional tax revenue to boost service where it needs to be.
Chris
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the cross town service being a weak spot. How many people go to 6th Ave for dinner, the bars, Jazzbones, Chopstix, etc. Yes route 1 gets you there if you live east or west, but if you live north or south, a car (or bicycle and in my case, feet) are the only reasonable way to get there. And frankly, when a city has a strip of restaurants and clubs like we do on 6th Ave, half the fun of it is strolling along and picking the spot you want to be at once you get there. I don't think door to door access is that important, just getting cross town bus access somewhere near the activity is.
As far as Pt Defiance goes, kinda off topic but if the Metro Park Board finally banned cars from 5 mile drive, and only allowed, feet, bicycles, or electric golf carts it would save 2 and 4 legged animals from being run over by cars, provide a better park experience park users, plants and animal residents, create an opportunity for an entrepeneur to rent golf carts, and finally, it would encourage bus useage to the park.
But just so no one misunderstands my nitpicking above. I like the changes that were made alot.
ReplyDeleteHistorically speaking the Puyallup-Tacoma segment has never had outstanding ridership. The closest it has came to satisfactory ridership was when the 400 ran from South Hill Mall, to Tacoma via 9th ave, and Stewart Ave Pre 2002.
ReplyDeleteThe Sound Transit services that replaced the route, have had less than satisfactory ridership as well. However, this can in part be blamed to the forced transfer to get to south hill, and the overall poor levels of service on the route. Even with the new PT service, i would hope that ST extends more 578s to Tacoma Dome Station or Downtown not only to augment the PT service, but restore a more direct path to downtown from Sumner (and Auburn).
As for N. Tacoma, After seeing the proposals, In the Reduction plan i can see retaining the #11, and terminating the #51 in the proctor dist as being a viable alternative (possibly with peak extensions to 45th and Huson or even Pt Defiance). And with the Growth plan, doing the opposite, extending the 51 to Pt Defiance, and replacing the 11 and 13 with a high frequency loop route that goes from Downtown-Old Town-Proctor-UPS-6th ave BD-Stadium-Downtown Than you could implment the 702 for service along Alder and N.30th, and turn the Westgate segment into a loop, returning along N. 26th. There are some options.