Project Participants / Service Providers

Transportation Solutions for Snohomish County

After a successful vote in June 1976 to establish the first public transit benefit area in Washington State, Community Transit (CT) began local bus service with 18 leased buses on October 4, 1976.

Since then, CT’s service area boundaries have increased as various cities and areas within unincorporated Snohomish County voted to become a part of Community Transit’s service area which now comprises 1,312 square miles of Snohomish County with a population of 381,440.

Over the years, CT has grown to become a major regional transit system providing intercounty commuter service, vanpools, rideshare matching, community-based Connect services, park and ride lots, and DART paratransit service for the disabled. Through innovative pricing and marketing strategies, CT’s vanpool program is now the third largest in the United States.

Community Transit Corporate Office
7100 Hardeson Road
Everett, WA 98203
425-348-7100

Community Transit Customer Information
425-353-RIDE (7433) or 800-562-1375
TTY 425-778-2188

Annual Ridership (1998)

7.7 million

Annual Revenue (1998)

$8,175,528

Regular Route Fleet size (year 2000)

276

Number of routes

65

Number of customer service locations

1

Number of operating bases

2

Public transit service has operated in the City of Everett since 1893. As the fifth largest city in the state the City of Everett incorporated transit service within it's jurisdictional powers in 1969. Since that time, Everett Transit (ET) has kept pace with the city's economic base. ET provides both fixed and paratransit service 7 days a week which includes the greater Everett area including the town of Mukilteo where connections with the Washington State ferry route for service to/from Clinton/Whidbey Island are made. Numerous transfer bus stops also exist with Snohomish County's regional transit provider, Community Transit. Other connections exist in Everett with Greyhound and Trailways intercity buses and Amtrak passenger rail. ET also works closely with many of the city's CTR affected employers including the region's largest employer, Boeing, whose Everett manufacturing facility is the largest in the state.

ET is one of the four transit systems working together to establish express bus, light rail and commuter rail service under the voter approved regional system known as, "Sound Transit." As such, ET is involved with a multitude of regional efforts to create a "seamless and integrated transportation system" in the region including: fare integration, new fare technologies, customer information services, and coordinated operational systems. In conjunction with these regional efforts, ET has begun designing and/or constructing three major transit centers in Everett and will be involved with additional Sound Transit "community projects" that will provide funding assistance for enhancements to the area's transportation infrastructure.

Annual Ridership (1997)

1.5 million

Annual Revenue (1997)

$728,855

Regular Route Fleet size (year 2000)

44

Number of routes (2000 est.)

10

Number of customer service locations

1

Number of operating bases

1

Kitsap Transit provides public transportation in Kitsap County. The service area includes the entire county and its four cities. Kitsap County is located on the Olympic peninsula across Puget Sound from Seattle. The largest employer in Kitsap County is the US Navy. The county is home to three naval bases, the largest being Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Washington State Ferries provides service from King County and Seattle to four terminals in Kitsap County. This service generates an extremely high number of intersystem transfers between the Ferries and Kitsap Transit. Providing commuter transit service to the county's major employers and ferry terminals has become a major component of Kitsap Transit's service. Along with its regular routed bus program and paratransit service, Kitsap Transit has an extensive rideshare program including vanpools and its unique worker/driver buses.

Annual Ridership (1997)

5 million

Annual Revenue (1997)

$1,704,804

Regular Route Fleet size (year 2000)

77

Number of routes

39

Number of customer service locations

2

Number of operating bases

4

Metro Transit is part of the Department of Transportation in King County, Washington. Metro Transit has almost 2 million customers, and has twice been honored as the best-run large public transportation system in North America.

Metro operates a fleet of standard and articulated coaches, electric trolleys, dual-powered buses, and streetcars that serves a 2,128 square mile area. Metro serves riders who are disabled with almost 1,000 wheelchair accessible coaches and 190 accessible routes, as well as paratransit van service and a taxi scrip program.

But Metro Transit is more than buses. For more than 20 years, Metro has been committed to providing environmentally healthy and energy-wise transportation.

Metro operates the largest publicly owned vanpool program in the country -- with more than 500 vans making 3 million trips per year. More than 5,000 people use those vans every day, eliminating about 4,500 vehicles from area roads. The regional ridematch system helps commuters form and sustain new carpools and vanpools in seven counties by matching names in a computer data base.

To help meet future needs and ease severe downtown traffic congestion, Metro operates a 1.3-mile electric bus tunnel underneath downtown Seattle, making stops at Convention Place, Westlake, University Street, Pioneer Square and the International District.

Annual Ridership (1998)

93.7 million

Annual Revenue (1998)

$67,769,730

Regular Route Fleet size (year 2001)

1263

Number of routes

258

Number of customer service locations

2

Number of operating bases

7

Pierce Transit was founded in 1979 and serves 600,000 Pierce County residents.

Pierce Transit's mission is to deliver outstanding transportation services that match our customers' needs. The agency operates local and express bus services, vanpools, ridesharing and SHUTTLE, an on-demand service for eligible individuals with disabilities.

Recognized as one of the nation's most innovative transit agencies, Pierce Transit pioneered the use of pollution-free, natural gas-powered buses, contributing to cleaner air in the Puget Sound region.

Annual Ridership (1998)

13.9 million

Annual Revenue (1997)

$7,041,109

Regular Route Fleet size (year 2000)

144

Number of routes (2000)

61

Number of customer service locations

4

Number of operating bases

1

The Puget Sound Regional Council is an association of cities, towns, counties, ports and state agencies that serves as a forum for developing policies and making decisions about regional growth management, economic and transportation issues in the four-county central Puget Sound region.

The Council is designated under federal law as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and under state law as the Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO), for King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties. The Council provides creative, pragmatic regional planning and research to address current issues, and to explore future needs and options that could benefit the region.

Approved by voters in 1996, Sound Transit is on track to implement a three-county regional transit system plan known as Sound Move, a seamless blend of three transportation systems: Sounder commuter rail, running 81 miles from Everett to Tacoma/Lakewood; Link light rail, a 24-mile system connecting the cities of Seattle, Tukwila and SeaTac and a 1.6 mile system in Tacoma; and Regional Express, a 200 bus transit system connecting Bellevue, Everett, Tacoma and Seattle with other cities and communities with 20 new, fast, limited-stop bus routes and numerous improvements to transit centers, park-and-ride lots and HOV lanes throughout the region. Sound Transit bus fleet will be operated and maintained by King County Metro Transit, Community Transit, Everett Transit, and Pierce Transit.

Regular Route Fleet size (year 2001)

189

Number of routes (2001)

13

Washington State Ferries is the state's number one tourist attraction and the second largest mass transit system in Washington. In 1999, Washington State Ferries transported 26 million passengers and vehicles -- tourists and commuters alike, across the waters of Puget Sound. For  Washington State Ferries the project unique objectives are the introduction of smart card technology at the vehicle level and the conversion of the current discounted paper tickets (stored rides) to the concept of stored value with a frequency of use discount. With the expected regional growth, the goal is to create multi-modal facilities to enhance passenger movement by bus, rail and ferry.

Please visit Washington State Ferries' web site [external link]