Exit133

June 25, 2013 · Exit133

Trolley Service for Gig Harbor

This summer Pierce Transit, in partnership with a group of Gig Harbor stakeholders, will provide trolley service up and down that steep hill between the historic downtown waterfront and the uptown shopping district.

The demonstration trolley service will run every 30 minutes between 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays; with extended service until 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The service begins July 9, and continues through September 28. More details in the full press release.

The project: the “PT Trolley - Get Around Gig Harbor,” was made possible with the support of a Gig Harbor Community Investment Team, made up of the City of Gig Harbor, the Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce, Merchants of Uptown, and the Gig Harbor Downtown Waterfront Alliance.

In light of recent cuts to the overall Pierce Transit budget, we’re wondering if we’ll be seeing more of this kind of partnership as business districts and other groups look to provide transit going forward. Could a similar model of public-private partnerships work to provide transit services elsewhere?

Filed under: Transportation, Elsewhere, Transit, Gig Harbor

1 comments

  • James June 26, 2013

    So... for years the City of Gig Harbor has tried to obstruct development downtown with restrictive land use regulation and NIMBYism, with good intentions but terrible results. Development occurred (strip malls and big box stores), with less/worse regulation, beyond City limits in Pierce County. After development, the City incorporated the developed land because it wanted the tax revenue (the Uptown shopping district is a far bigger economy than Gig Harbor proper). And now, because there are so few basic services in Downtown, tourists and summer visitors to Gig Harbor are being provided a "transit" option to better connect them to Uptown. I hope that some savvy journalist/writer brings the Gig Harbor story to light and how NOT to manage growth in Northwest small towns/suburbs. Many lessons to learn here.