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| The Pierce Transit Bus: An endangered species? |
If you ride the bus in Tacoma or Pierce County your life is about to get a whole lot harder. Yesterday, the Pierce Transit Board approved a resolution calling for a 34% cut to transit service in Pierce County in September 2013. Why so soon? The reasoning behind that is couched in federal policy that requires a lot of public process before the cuts actually take place. There was the option of putting cuts off to February 2014, but it would have entailed a slightly larger amount of cuts at 36%. Broadly speaking here's the damage report: no weekend or holiday service, reduced midday service, reduced span, longer headways (many routes going to 60 to 90, some to 120 (!) minute service).
Pierce Transit Cutbacks by Route
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| Click for details about Routes 1-54 |
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| Details for Routes 55-501 |
Tacoma's City Council balks at using TBD Authority for Transit
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| Derek Young (Gig Harbor) serves on the Pierce Transit Board |
If that wasn't bad enough, the
Mayor and City Council of the City of Tacoma have forsaken their transit riders and are refusing to support a city funding measure for transit service (!!). The City of Tacoma just implemented a
Transportation Benefit District last year and instituted a councilmanic $20 vehicle license fee. TBD authority gives the City the ability to put up for a vote up to 0.2% in sales taxes as well as up to an $80 vehicle license fee for transportation and transit projects/operations. This amount of funding could stall cuts indefinitely or even partially restore transit service within the City.
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| Most of Tacoma voted heavily in favor of Proposition 1 |
Tacoma showed high levels of support for Pierce Transit last year and could easily pass a city transit measure with areas like the North End and Central Tacoma. It is frustrating to the Nth degree to have the City Council be so obstinate and callous towards the needs of its own people (
many households with riders make less than $20k/year), while at the same time ceding control of transit policy to anti-tax zealouts in Milton and South Hill. Council should instead be paying attention to the huge levels of support for transit found throughout the City of Tacoma.
Somehow, both the Pierce Transit Board and the Tacoma City Council are in a frame of mind to think that it's okay to simply cut loose the interests of some of their most vulnerable citizens and to lay them at the mercy of the
State Legislature. (?!?!?) Sadly, we will not follow the same path as our brothers and sisters in King County, who
saved Metro with a landslide of popular organization, nor will we even go as far as the
City of Bellingham and pass a city measure with a TBD to restore Sunday service. No, the most that Tacoma's "progressive" politicians will do to confront this coming humanitarian crisis is rattle a tin can in Olympia for relief.
Pierce Transit Advisory Group Formed
In other news, the Pierce Transit Board commissioned the
Community Transportation Advisory Group at the same meeting. Nine candidates (
noted here in the agenda) were selected. Spoiler: I was one of them. Our immediate scope of work will be to primarily advise the Pierce Transit Board in relation to the service reduction. I look forward to the work, but I wish it had been under different circumstances.
