North by Northwest 51: Community Transit’s Transit Development Plan Update – Comments DUE 3 April!

My snap of a Community Transit Double Tall.

Just finally became aware today of Community Transit’s draft annual Transit Development Plan update (hereafter CT Draft TDP for brevity) towards a very bold vision of, “Transit will be the first choice, not just for commuting to work but for all travel” (Page 5 of THIS PDF).  STB transit geeks this weekend might want to eke out time and write a comment letter to planupdate-AT-commtrans-DOT-org because you’ve got only until April 3rd to comment.

However, before you write off your wish list to Community Transit, you might want to note the CT Draft TDP has some interesting points:

• “Based on the current service network, 45% of all jobs in the county and 76% of all jobs in the PTBA are within ¼ mile walk distance of Community Transit bus service (Figure 22). An additional 154,000 jobs in King County and 24,000 jobs in Everett are also within ¼ mile walk distance of Community Transit bus service. In all, nearly 260,000 jobs are within ¼ mile walk distance of Community Transit bus service.”  [Please note Everett Transit has its own separate Public Transit Benefit Area for the City of Everett too].
• “On the congested I-5 corridor between Everett and Seattle, buses are carrying 25% of all commuters on the road in less than one percent of the vehicles.”
• In 2013, the cost per bus rider averaged out on every route after fare payment was $6.57 for about a 24% farebox recovery.  However fare increases beyond 2015’s are planned for 2017 & 2019 to hopefully maintain that 23-24% farebox recovery.
• “Retail sales tax collected in the Public Transportation Benefit Area (PTBA) is our primary revenue source. PTBA residents have approved the maximum taxation rate – 9/10 of one cent, or 9 cents on a $10 purchase – allowed under current law. Through a partnership agreement, Everett Transit also contributes sales tax funding – ½ of one tenth of one percent, or ½ cent on a $10 purchase – toward operation of Swift service in Everett. Retail sales tax accounts for about 63 percent of the agency’s operating revenue. Rider fares provide about 16 percent of total operating revenue and cover about 24 percent of the cost to operate Community Transit branded service (excluding Sound Transit routes).”
• “As described in the service portion of this plan, revenue forecasts have been sufficient to shore up the existing transit network and return to 7/365 operations with restoration of Sunday service. But the list of unmet needs is far larger. Community Transit’s vision for fast, convenient bus service throughout Snohomish County requires a higher level of public investment.”

Again, comments are due on the CT Draft TDP by 3 April so don’t delay, e-mail planupdate-AT-commtrans.org your thoughts this weekend or next as you’ve only got two weeks from today.  So if you want more bus service, a new bus stop or just want to atta-boy Community Transit, please make the time to submit comment.  Arguably resources are taken from service hours to prepare transit development plans so ridership can give feedback, so please by 3 April e-mail planupdate-AT-commtrans.org your thoughts on the CT Draft TDP.