Pierce Transit Saves Some Weekend Service With Other Cuts
Pierce Transit will be keeping some bus service on Saturdays and Sundays after all.
In the wake of the failed measure to fund bus service with a 0.03% sales tax increase, Pierce Transit had planned to eliminate all weekend bus service by September of this year. Objections from bus riders who rely on the weekend service to get to work, church, and other destinations convinced the agency to reconsider.
According to The News Tribune, the Pierce Transit Board of Commissioners voted to restore 17,000 hours of Saturday service, and 9,000 hours of Sunday service – that’s 43% and 29% of current service levels, respectively.
With the failure of PT Prop 1, saving some weekend service means cuts elsewhere int the PT budget. According to the TNT, those cuts will include not constructing a planned maintenance facility, and extending the “useful life” of buses from 14 to 16 years.
With budgets tight, and weekend customers voicing their needs, Pierce Transit had some tough decisions to make. Not everyone is convinced that these trade-offs are a good idea. What do you think?
Filed under: Transportation, Elsewhere, Pierce County, Transit
2 comments
C Chris February 13, 2013
I support this decision, although I wasn’t the biggest fan of it initially. There are two reasons to support it: 1) federal grants are available for keeping existing transit in a good state of repair, which will supplement funds being diverted to weekend service, and 2) Bus coaches can last a bit longer than what we usually put them through.
The benefit of helping to close the budget gap offsets the manageable long term risk of bus coaches becoming inoperable incrementally. By the time this becomes a serious issue we will likely have passed a comprehensive transportation package that supplements operations for public transit.
T talus February 14, 2013
I agree with Chris, and would underline the need for the comprehensive transportation (or at least comprehensive transit) package he references in order to revive our beleaguered bus system and allow for expansion of the Tacoma Link — preferably to Stadium and onward to 6th Ave or Hilltop.