Community Transit
Every level of government, local, state and federal is experiencing financial problems and Community Transit, Snohomish Country's public transit provider is no different. Joyce Eleanor, Executive Director of Community Transit was our guest speaker last Friday. Eleanor talked about Community Transit during the good years when the outlook was good and there was strong ridership demand. Eleanor stated that when the soft economic outlook took hold in 2008, the sales tax revenues fell over 19% and ridership dropped as unemployment rose. When expenses continued to climb, cost cutting efforts were put in place that resulted service cuts and job losses followed by two fare increases, wage and hiring freezes. Now, Community Transit is in the Recovery Years. Their goal is to establish affordable cost structure, focus on cost management, with no service growth. When Community Transit reduces its service in February 2012, the agency will have cut 37% of its bus service and 29% of its workforce in the span of three years. The cuts will affect riders in Lake Stevens. For more information about the cuts in service click here. Armed with a new six year plan, Community Transit is working on building a sustainable future in a new Economic Reality.
Click here for more information about Community Transit. Or visit their website.
This is a photo of one of the new double decker busses in service on some of the commuter routes of Community Transit.
