Advocates rally for more transit service before a Pierce Transit board meeting.
For too many people in Pierce County, Pierce Transit’s service ends before the workday does.
Often, Piece Transit’s current service leaves people behind. Krystal Monteros is a regular transit rider who uses a wheelchair. Most Pierce Transit buses run every hour, and each bus only has two spaces for people in wheelchairs. If those are full, Krystal has to wait another hour for the hope to get on a bus.
That’s not fair. Krystal shared this story at a rally outside the Pierce Transit board room. We joined Krystal and other transit riders to call on the Pierce Transit board to keep Pierce moving and to fund more buses now.
Pierce Transit board and staff have a proposal to do that. The “More People. More Places. More Often” proposal is transformative.
It would:
- Increase bus service by 47%. This would fundamentally change what it’s like to get around by public transit in Pierce County.
- Make transit free for seniors. Many seniors are on a fixed income and eventually age out of driving. More accessible public transit would help seniors age with grace and live more independently. This proposal would also keep transit free for youth.
- End hourly waits for bus routes on weekdays. Buses would run more often on 23 routes.
- Extend service to 10pm on weekdays. 23 buses that currently end at 8pm would run until 10pm on weekdays. 4 buses would run until midnight.
- Create 4 new bus routes. The routes would serve neighborhoods with no service today like Northeast Tacoma, the Port of Tacoma, Ruston, and the Emerald Queen Casino.
- Launch new connections to light rail. Service would connect to Sound Transit’s new light rail stations at Tacoma Dome, Portland Avenue, and Fife.
- Expand paratransit to new neighborhoods. Seniors and people with disabilities in Puyallup and Northeast Tacoma would finally have paratransit service.
This proposal is going to voters this fall. It would make it possible for seniors, youth, shift workers, and people with disabilities to get around. It would make it possible for more people to afford their lives in a place that’s getting more expensive.
With skyrocketing gas prices, you can’t dump the pump if there isn’t a bus to get you where you need to go.
It would provide an option for people with grinding commutes on I-5 through JBLM and north to Seattle and Bellevue.
People like Krystal need this. Healthcare workers at St. Joseph need this. Students at Tacoma Community College, Pacific Lutheran University, and University of Puget Sound need this.
If you want to get involved in the campaign to deliver transformational transit in Tacoma and Pierce County, sign up here and tell your friends that it will be on the ballot.
