TCC’s Matthew Sutherland (foreground, left) and Tracy Oster and Laura Svancarek of Downtown: On the Go! joined members of the Tacoma City Council to proclaim June to be Ride Transit Month.
June is Ride Transit Month and last week we kicked off the month’s celebrations with a happy hour with our Tri-Cities partners in Richland. Thank you to everyone who joined us — it was fantastic to be together!
The folks in Richland are not the only ones who want to celebrate transit. Fourteen jurisdictions across Washington have now officially proclaimed June to be Ride Transit Month, including King County, Pierce County, Clallam County, Jefferson County, the cities of Lacey, Lakewood, Olympia, Port Angeles, Redmond, Tacoma, Seattle, Shoreline, and Vancouver, and the Kitsap Transit Board. If you live or travel in one of these places you can get in on the now OFFICIAL celebration by riding transit this month!
There’s lots more in store and more celebration ahead. Read about all of it in this month’s edition of TCC news.
It wouldn’t be Ride Transit Month without our annual Rider Celebration event! This year, transit riders and fans are joining us for the Seattle Mariners vs. Oakland Athletics game on June 30th. It’s going to be Ride Transit Night at the Ballpark — and we hope you’ll join us!
Ride Transit Month upcoming events
More than 260 people have taken the Ride Transit Month pledge!
More than 260 people have now taken the Ride Transit Month pledge, including the folks above in Spokane! Thanks to our Ride Transit Month partner at Proxi for powering our map of pledges across the state.
If all 260 pledgers take 5 rides each, that’s 1,300 trips on transit this month alone! If you’re planning to ride transit this month, take the pledge:
Celebrating Hester’s aluminum jubilee!
It has been 10 years since TCC’s Policy Director Hester Serebrin graced this organization with her brilliant mind, sartorial excellence, and fierce commitment to advancing equitable outcomes for transportation in Washington. Starting as an intern in 2012, Hester has helped create some of the most groundbreaking transportation policies and budgets in the country including ORCA Lift, Move Ahead WA, King County Metro’s Mobility Equity Framework, fare enforcement reform, the Sound Transit 3 plan, Seattle TBD (twice!), the Levy to Move Seattle, and many more. Hester sits on an array of task forces, committees, and boards and is a compelling, courageous voice for equity and sustainability wherever she goes. She’s an incredible leader, colleague, boba connoisseur, world traveler, gourmet, pop culture observer, and friend and we are lucky and grateful to have her. Join us in thanking Hester for all she does for transit riders and the planet!
PSRC Executive Board votes to adopt new 2050 Regional Transportation Plan
On April 28, 2022, the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Executive Board unanimously recommended adoption of the Regional Transportation Plan for action by the General Assembly. The General Assembly accepted their recommendation and adopted the plan on May 26, 2022.
Welcome TCC’s newest Board Member, Sam Zimbabwe
TCC is proud to welcome Sam Zimbabwe to our Board of Directors. Sam is a Practice Builder at Kimley-Horn where he advances and supports local transportation planning and strategic investment across the United States. He has more than 20 years of experience in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors designing, building, and operating transit and communities where transit is the first and best transportation option. Formerly the Director of the Seattle Department of Transportation, Sam believes that only transit-focused communities can truly be just and equitable places, and that every Washingtonian deserves high-quality transit. Sam is a daily King County Metro rider and he and his wife bring their children on various transit adventures every time they take a vacation.
Welcome TCC’s new Communications Manager, Jessica Schreindl
Please join us in welcoming Jessica Schreindl, TCC’s new Communications Manager. A communications professional with more than a decade of experience in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, Jessica has worked as a journalist, reality TV producer, and campaign director. Prior to joining TCC, she ran the communications department at CAIR Washington where she focused on strategic communications and creative storytelling to combat Islamophobia. Jessica lives in the Burien/White Center area with her husband and 2-year-old son. She takes the 120 to work and her favorite part of the commute is watching the changing landscape.
Staff pick
There was so much to cheer in the Move Ahead Washington legislation that passed earlier this year, with its historic investments in walking, biking, and transit options, that it’s easy to miss the incredibly exciting Kids Ride Free program wherein all youth, 18 years and younger, will be able to ride transit (ferries, buses, trolleys, light rail, and Amtrak too) for free, in all transit districts that opt in to the program. As someone who grew up with a single mom in car-dependent Southern California, and relied on public buses to get around, this knocks me out. I can’t stop thinking about what it means for young people, for their freedom of movement and access to opportunity.
Memes in motion
— Superman
