About Pierce County Transit

12/31/07 Pierce Transit From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pierce Transit, in full "The Pierce County Public Transportation Benefit Area Corporation", is a mass transit agency serving Pierce County, the second most populous county in Washington state.

Pierce Transit was formed in 1979 when voters passed a 0.3 percent sales tax to fund public transportation. By authorizing this taxing authority, a municipal corporation (Pierce Transit) was formed under Chapter 36.57A of the Revised Code of Washington. In 2002, voters passed an additional 0.3 percent sales tax to replace revenue lost when Initiative 695 cut off the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax as a source of funding for public transportation.

Pierce Transit provides transportation services over a 450-square-mile (1,200 km²) area with an estimated population of 675,000. Pierce Transit's service area includes the cities and towns of Bonney Lake, Buckley, DuPont, Fife, Edgewood, Fircrest, Gig Harbor, Lakewood, Milton, Orting, Puyallup, Ruston, Steilacoom, Sumner, Tacoma and University Place, along with extensive unincorporated areas of Pierce County. Administration.

The agency is governed by a Board of Commissioners. The Board is composed of nine elected officials representing the City of Tacoma, Pierce County, Lakewood, University Place/Puyallup (a rotating appointment) and the smaller towns and cities of Pierce Transit's service area. The Chief Executive Officer is responsible for implementation of the policies legislated by the Board of Commissioners. In order to provide overall management for the Authority, six departments have been established: Executive; Transit Services; Policy, Planning, and Public Affairs; Capital Development; Human Resources; and Finance, Audit & Administrative Services.

Services
Pierce Transit provides 50 local bus routes, SHUTTLE (specialized transportation for people with disabilities), vanpool, ridematching and intercounty express service (provided in cooperation with Sound Transit and Intercity Transit) to Seattle, Sea-Tac Airport and Olympia. Pierce Transit's fixed-route system includes routes that operate on more than 900 miles (1,400 km) of city streets, county routes and state highways from Seattle through Tacoma and on to Olympia. Serving these areas is a fleet of over 250 buses, all wheelchair accessible and all running on compressed natural gas. Seven Transit Centers, over 3,000 bus stops, more than 200 covered bus shelters and 19 park-and-ride lots are provided for patrons. Pierce Transit's fixed-route service carried more than 13 million passengers in 2003. Pierce Transit's demand-response service, SHUTTLE, provides transportation for people certified eligible for the service because they are functionally unable to ride a fixed-route bus. Rides are organized on a subscription, group or call-in basis. More than 500,000 trips were provided in 2003, with nearly 70% of these trips provided by a private contractor.

Alternate Fuels
Pierce Transit's exploration of alternate fuel options began in 1986 when the agency launched a four-year demonstration project to test the feasibility of using compressed natural gas (CNG) as a fuel source for its bus fleet. CNG was chosen for its environmental benefits and safety record. Working with the Washington State Energy Office and Washington Natural Gas (now Puget Sound Energy), Pierce Transit converted two 1974 GMC buses to run on both diesel and CNG. When results were compared with six diesel buses of the same age, the agency found it cost less per mile in most cases to operate CNG buses. The engines also ran quieter, helping curb noise pollution in neighborhoods. In 1992, a fast-fill compressor station was built, capable of refueling three CNG buses simultaneously in less than 10 minutes; a second station has since been added. The agency bought the first low-floor buses in the state powered by CNG in February, 1999. By 2004, the agency's entire fleet had been converted to alternative fuels. While the fueling stations and their accompanying natural gas detectors and ventilation systems in the shop are expensive, fuel costs for CNG-powered buses can be much lower than for diesel-powered vehicles. In 2000, the CNG buses cost 7 cents per mile to fuel while diesel buses cost 13.6 cents per mile. Pierce Transit's clean-air efforts have garnered a number of awards from such groups as the American Lung Association, the Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, American Gas Association and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Most recently, the U.S. Department of Energy honored Pierce Transit with a Clean Cities National Partner Award. The Department of Energy's Clean Cities awards promote the use of alternative, nonpolluting fuels. Pierce Transit was nominated for its award by the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition, a regional government/industry partnership led by the City of Seattle to promote the use of alternative fuels.

Cities served Tacoma,Puyallup,Lakewood,Gig Harbor,PurdyFort, Lewi,sOrting,South Hill,Bonney Lake,Sumner,Milton,Federal Way

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Green claims for transit ignore extra pollution from congestion

Transit benefits: new study, new campaign

The idea that transit systems, by moving commuters around en masse, reduce fuel consumption and reduce pollution may not surprise anyone. More surprising might be how much.

The Washington Public Interest Research Group, a decidedly pro-transit consumer organization, has completed its first nationwide look at transit's environmental benefits, using 2006 information in federal data bases. And it's using its conclusions to help campaign for expanding light rail service beyond Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport.

The verdict for the three-county area of Puget Sound: 24 million gallons of oil saved, gasoline cost reductions totaling $63 million and more than 154,000 metric tons of carbon-monoxide pollution eliminated because transit kept commuters from traveling to work in cars in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

WashPIRG spokesman and organizer Blair Amundson said the organization based its report on information in the Federal Transit Administration national database and a 2007 urban mobility report published by the Texas Transportation Institute. The group also used an EPA report to calculate vehicle fuel consumption. Its report is based on public transportation systems; private bus services weren't included.

A breakdown from the report: King County Metro transit saved an estimated 12.5 million gallons of oil and $32.7 million in gasoline costs and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 87,907 metric tons, because transit buses eliminated other vehicle trips.

Sound Transit, according to the report, saved more than 6.8 million gallons of oil and $17.9 million in gasoline costs and reduced carbon-dioxide emissions by 49,622 tons.

Community Transit in Snohomish County saved more than 1.9 million gallons of oil and $5 million in gasoline costs and reduced carbon-dioxide emissions 12,697 tons.

Pierce Transit saved more than 2.7 million gallons of oil and $7.1 million in gasoline costs and cut CO2 emissions by 4,201 tons.
In amounts of oil, cost and pollution savings created, the report ranks Puget Sound's transit systems 14th among 25 major metropolitan areas, topped by the New York-New Jersey area and with Las Vegas last.

Amundson said 2006 figures were the last available from the federal government databases. Amunson announced the study Thursday at Sound Transit headquarters in Seattle, a few steps away from where Sound Transit's board held another discussion that brought them closer to deciding the shape of another transit-expansion ballot measure.

The board didn't make any decisions. Sound Transit spokesman Geoff Patrick said the agency wasn't supporting WashPIRG's study. The agency made its Grand Hall reception area available for WashPIRG's press conference.

"It's a public area," Patrick said. Amundson said his group, like others, will press Sound Transit to expand its light rail system further than the 15.7-mile segment it is building from downtown Seattle to Sea-Tac Airport and will reserve judgment until details of another package become known.

Amundson conceded that Thursday's press conference was a "campaign event in a couple of different ways" - to try to get another ballot measure proposing light-rail expansion and to help push the federal government to keep investing in transit.

And WashPIRG is wading back into transportation issues. Amundson said WashPIRG does not favor replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with another highway, which would "just continue to perpetuate the road-based and car-based system."

But he said the group supports replacing the Evergreen Point Bridge with a six-lane span if two lanes are reserved for carpools and transit and the structure is built to eventually accept high-capacity transit - "preferably light rail"