Smart Transportation Choices Get Rewarded

Smart Commuter of the Quarter, Erin from AT&T

Community Transit’s Choice Connection program promotes smart transportation options throughout our community. Two innovative incentive programs are offered to help reduce traffic congestion and pollution, and encourage healthy travel options:

• Smart Commuter Rewards is an incentive program that helps large businesses motivate employees to reduce their drive-alone trips to work.
• Curb the Congestion promotes smart transportation options to residents and employees on six of Snohomish County’s most congested corridors. 

From January-September these programs combined have already removed over 376,522 drive-alone trips for our roads and 3.5 million pounds of CO2 from the air we breathe. Each quarter Community Transit recognizes standout participants and employers who are dedicated to smart transportation choices and healthy transportation options. Congratulations to the Choice Connections award winners for 3rd Quarter of 2015:

Curb the Congestion Champion of the Quarter

Valauri Stotler of Lynnwood uses bus, carpool, light rail and walking for 99% of all the trips she makes. These trips include commuting to work to the City of Seattle, walking to the store and getting to the airport. Over the past year her smart transportation choices saved over 7,900 drive alone miles, 3,870 pounds of CO2 from the air we breathe and over $1,500 in personal transportation expenses.

Smart Commuter of the Quarter

Erin, a Senior Field Asset Administrator, tracks and reports out AT&T’s network assets. She walks the talk by choosing to walk, vanpool, bike or telecommute to work for over 15 years. Erin is dedicated to a healthy lifestyle and environment, and makes smart transportation choices a priority not only for her commute from Seattle to Bothell, but also for most of her personal trips.

Employee Transportation Coordinator (ETC) of the Quarter

Dena Searcy of Comcast Lynnwood is committed to making her worksite transportation program a success. Her diligent efforts to train and educate her employees about their transportation options have made a huge impact. Dena registered 111 employees in their transportation program, far surpassing their original goal of 65. Her efforts helped to save over 7,600 pounds of CO2 pollution during in the third quarter alone.

Employer of the Quarter

Vertafore in Bothell makes smart transportation choices a priority at their workplace. By the end of the third quarter they registered over a third of their employees in RideshareOnline.com; connecting their employees to transportation resources and incentives. Their consistent efforts are making a huge impact, and during the third quarter alone they saved over 32,500 drive alone miles from our roadways.

To learn more about the Choice Connections program and to sign up to start receiving rewards for your smart transportation choices, please visit www.communitytransit/ChoiceConnections.

October Brings Winners Across Snohomish County

Wheel Options is a statewide promotion that encourages commuters to choose alternatives to driving alone to work. Eligible modes include carpool, vanpool, bus, train, light rail, streetcar, biking, walking, and working from home or a compressed work schedule (e.g. four, 10-hour shifts in a week). Across the state of Washington more than 18,000 commuters participated by logging six or more days of eligible commutes during the month of October. This year the Wheel Options grand prize was a $2,500 “Choose Your Own Adventure” travel package.

A huge congratulations to each of the winners from Snohomish County and the City of Bothell:

Weekly winners

$25 Starbucks – Scott Farrand from Edmonds Community College (Lynnwood)

$25 Target – Evan Gustafson from Leviton Networks (Bothell)

$25 Nike – Dan Britten from Genzyme (Lynnwood)

$25 Gap – Ryan Bentz from Panasonic Avionics (Bothell)

Monthly winners courtesy of Community Transit

$100 MasterCard - Noor Panjwani from T-Mobile (Bothell)

$100 MasterCard - Randal Stocking from Sonosite (Bothell)

$100 MasterCard - Daniel Dootson from Edmonds Community College (Lynnwood)

$100 MasterCard - Kevin Lai from Boeing Harbour Point (Mukilteo)

$100 MasterCard - Bridgett Hogue from Boeing Canyon Park East (Bothell)

 

For more information on Wheel Options and for a complete list of winners please visit http://www.wheeloptions.org.

 

Swift Bus Rapid Transit Turns 6

Riders love Swift, especially on the weekend!

This week marks the sixth anniversary of Swift bus rapid transit in Snohomish County.

The state’s first BRT line has become the cornerstone of Community Transit's bus system, carrying about 5,500 riders each weekday and more than 1.5 million a year. One in six of all Community Transit riders, or about 16 percent of the agency’s ridership is on Swift.

But on weekends, ah, on weekends these numbers are much more impressive!

Nearly 3,800 riders take Swift every Saturday, which is 30 percent of all riders. With Sunday service restored, there are about 2,800 riders boarding Swift every Sunday, or 33 percent of all riders.

The fact is that Swift has proven to be a very convenient way to get around. Pretty good for a six year old! And soon, Swift will have a baby brother (or sister – we won’t know until 2018).

When the next Swift line is up and running, we will have an established BRT network in Snohomish County. With a convenient transfer point at Highway 99 and Airport Road, there will be fast, frequent service across a major part of the county.

Before long, a whole Swift family will be serving the entire county. A third line is already in the conceptual stage to connect with Link light rail at the Lynnwood Transit Center. Our long-range plan calls for eventual Swift service north to Smokey Point and east to Highway 9.

In coming weeks, all Swift buses will get a new decal reminding us of what’s to come. The decal will say, “We’re building a network of Swift lines with fast, easy connections.”

For now, there is one more improvement to the original Swift line coming soon. The new College Station at 204th Street will provide more convenient southbound access to Edmonds Community College. Construction of this final station on the first Swift line is underway and it will be open when students return from the holiday break.

Happy anniversary, Swift!

What Will We Do if The Big One Hits? We're Getting Ready, Just in Case.

By Steven Winecoff, Manager of Transportation Administration

On Thursday, November 12 at 8:45 a.m., a simulated 9.0 earthquake occurred off the Pacific coast, causing major damage throughout the Puget Sound region.

At Community Transit, dispatchers and managers scrambled to contact drivers in the field to ensure that buses and passengers were safe and accounted for. Communication channels were spotty.

At the same time, all our employees were evacuated from their buildings and few were allowed back in due to lengthy inspection times and areas of clear structural damage.

Many workers, at our base and on the road, were anxious to get home to check on their families, as cell phone and Internet communication channels were overwhelmed.

Using real system data, such as how many buses were on the road at that time, and possible events, such as dispatch centers being inoperable, 29 Community Transit employees from various departments participated in a five-hour tabletop emergency response exercise that day to respond as they would if this event really happened.

Our objective was to assess Community Transit’s response and readiness. This is not just about planning for a possible earthquake, but helping us plan for “All Hazards” types of events so we can be better prepared in the event of any emergency. Our next step is an agency-wide debrief to discuss action items that arose from this tabletop event. 

The exercise also helped to prepare our agency for the “Cascadia Rising” Earthquake & Tsunami Functional Exercise that will take place in June 2016. This drill is being planned by FEMA and other state and regional partners. It is one more in a series of preparedness exercises our agency, and our partners, undertake to ensure the safety and security of our passengers and employees.

Read more about the possibility of “The Really Big One” in New Yorker magazine. For more information on personal preparedness please visit www.snohomishcountywa.gov or www.fema.gov.

A Note of Thanks to our Veterans

“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” - Maya Angelou

Every year, on November 11, Americans have the opportunity to honor the bravery and service of all U.S. veterans.

At Community Transit, we are honored to work alongside 92 veterans every day. They represent the five armed service branches (Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy) and are found throughout the agency in our Transportation, Maintenance, Sales & Distribution and Capitol Planning areas.

For the past three years, we've posted the names of our veterans throughout the agency and given them pins to wear for the day to recognize their service. (Pictured to the left is the pin veterans will be wearing for Veterans Day 2015.)

Community Transit thanks all the veterans in our lives, including those who drive, maintain and support our transit service! Please join us in thanking our veterans for their service and sacrifice.

Want to send an eCard to the veterans in your life? Click here to send a thank you eCard to your favorite veteran (courtesy of GovLoop).

How will you be honoring your favorite veteran on Veterans Day?

A Day in the Life at the Lost and Found: Phones, Umbrellas, and a Bag O’Pot

Many people run to catch their bus, but some also dash off the bus to get where they need to go. In that bustle, they sometimes leave stuff behind. At Community Transit, we average about 650 lost and found items per month. That’s up to 8,000 items a year.

Most items left behind on our buses are what you’d expect to find: cell phones, travel umbrellas, prescription glasses, IDs. But, we also get stuff you’ve got to wonder how someone could forget: bicycles, laptops, dentures, even a playpen! 

When you operate public transit in a state where marijuana is legalized, it’s not surprising when a bag of pot appears in the daily drop off. 

In fact, our staff estimates that small amounts of marijuana make an appearance at the Lost and Found about four times per month.

So, what do we do with the pot?

According to Matt, Sales and Distribution Supervisor at the Lynnwood Transit Center RideStore, home to our Lost and Found, standard procedure is to call the Snohomish County Sheriff’s deputies to come and retrieve it. We don’t want to be in possession of lost drugs or weapons.

“In most instances, what we receive is a small amount,” said Matt. “If it happens that the person who left their item on the bus shows up to claim it before the sheriffs arrive, we release the item to the person (after they properly identify it).”

If the sheriff arrives before the owner and takes possession of the marijuana, a tag marked with the case number and sheriff’s office contact info is attached to the container the marijuana was in so the owner can take steps to retrieve the item. When a claimant is told they need to go to the sheriff’s office to get their weed, “we usually get a very calm response,” said Matt.

Reunited And It Feel So Good

For just about every lost item is an owner eager for its return. About 35 percent of items in the Lost and Found are reunited with their owners. If you’ve left an item on one of our buses, here’s what you should know to get your item back:

• If you left your item on a Community Transit or Snohomish County Sound Transit bus, contact the RideStore to see if your item has been found. Call (425) 348-2350 or email ridestore@commtrans.org
• Lost and found items can be picked up at the RideStore the next business day after 12:00 p.m.
• When you call, be prepared to identify your item (color, stickers, brand name, etc.).
• If you lost an item at Everett Station, check with the station’s Customer Service Center.
• If you lost an item on the Sounder Train, call (888) 889-6398. Select the “Sounder” option and then select “Lost & Found.”

Clockwise left: 30 crates organize found items; bulkier found items take up

the other side of lost and found; a gas-powered pruner was left behind; 

staff examine and log items in all bags that come in; an average dropoff

of found items from a weekend.

Time’s a Tickin’ When Things Go Missin’

If an item has a phone number, we do our best to contact the owner. Otherwise, we wait for a call. Wallets, purses and medications are always given special consideration for quick return to the owner. Other items fall under these hold criteria:

• Lost items are held in Lost in Found for 14 days, then they are destroyed or donated.
• Bikes are held offsite for a total of 10 days before being turned over to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Property Room. When claiming a bike, you’ll need to set-up a time for pick-up. Appointments are available weekdays between 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. by calling (425) 348-2350.

“At the end of the day, we prefer to reunite people with their property,” said Matt.

To that end, our RideStore staff has two pieces of advice for our riders:

1. Check your seat before getting off the bus and make sure you have all your belongings.
2. If you think you’ve lost something on one of our buses, give us a call!

Buses will Bypass Heavy Traffic on SB I-5

Beginning this week, Community Transit and Sound Transit buses will use transit-only ramps to bypass heavy traffic on southbound I-5.

Buses will use the ramps at the Mountlake Terrace Freeway Station (MLTFS) and at Northgate to bypass traffic when there is major congestion. Buses will only use the ramps when traffic in the HOV lane is moving significantly below posted speeds and the driver believes the bus can gain a travel time advantage over staying in the HOV lane.

Each of these bypasses is about two-thirds of a mile long, so if both are used, that is nearly 1.5 miles of traffic the buses will be able to avoid on the southbound commute.

The goal is to help keep buses on schedule, which is especially difficult on the southbound morning commute.

At Mountlake Terrace, this means that not every bus that comes through the freeway station will stop for customers. Signs are being posted to notify waiting riders that not all buses will stop.

In the near future, southbound buses will also use the HOV ramp at the Lynnwood Transit Center to bypass heavy traffic. Community Transit is working with the Washington State Department of Transportation on new signage that will allow transit to go straight on those ramps, after stopping, of course.

I-405 Bus Shoulder Driving May Start Thursday, October 8

On the heels of the new express toll lanes opening on a 17-mile stretch of I-405, commuters can expect to see Community Transit and Sound Transit buses driving on the southbound I-405 right hand shoulder starting tomorrow, October 8.

The Transit Only right-hand shoulder lane is part of the I-405 Express Toll Lanes project and the result of a partnership between Community Transit, King County Metro Transit, Sound Transit and the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The 13-foot wide Transit Only shoulder lane is located on two specific stretches of southbound I-405:

• Between Highway 527 (Canyon Park exit) and NE 195th Street; and
• Between Highway 522 and NE 160th Street

Here is a preview of what the bus shoulder driving will look like-- this is actual footage of our drivers in training yesterday afternoon:

Bus shoulder operations are common in other states such as Minnesota and Ohio. Community Transit has entered into an agreement with WSDOT for I-405 shoulder operations in  2010. Community Transit operates Sound Transit express buses in Snohomish County.

Rules of the Road

Just as there are rules for using the express lanes, so too are there rules for buses driving on the shoulder:

• Buses will use the shoulder lane only during the weekday morning commute (6-9 a.m.)
• Buses will use the shoulder lane only when regular traffic is running substantially slower than posted speeds.
• Buses will flash their hazard lights when operating on the shoulder to alert other vehicles.
• When traffic is running at or close to posted speeds, buses will use the right-hand general purpose traffic lane.
• If there is a stalled vehicle or another obstruction blocking the shoulder lane, buses will use the right-hand general purpose lane.

For more information about I-405 shoulder lane operations, visit  www.wsdot.wa.gov/Tolling/405/BusShoulderLanes.htm.

Session in Review: How Community Transit Fared with the 2015 Legislature

The historically long (176 days) 2015 Washington State Legislative Session is now best remembered in transit circles for the transportation revenue package passed in early July. That legislation gave Community Transit authority to seek local sales tax funding for increased transit service, which will be decided by voters on November 3.

Here is a recap of legislation affecting Community Transit.

Funding for Community Transit 

16-year New Transportation Revenue Package 
• Local option authority – As discussed above, this granted Community Transit authority to seek up to 0.3 percent sales tax increase for transit. The Community Transit Board approved a ballot measure for the full 0.3 percent to fund more bus trips on all routes, a second Swift line and a list of other improvements. Measure will be on November 3 general election ballot.
• $10 million in flexible spending for second line of Swift. This funding, which is designated to be received in future biennia, can be used for Swift capital infrastructure (buses and stations) or operations.

2015-17 Transportation Budget Regional Mobility Grants 
• Seaway Transit Center, $3 million in 2015-17 and $3.8 million in 2017-19
This transit center, located across the street from Boeing-Everett’s main gate, will serve as the northern terminal for the second Swift line, as well as a hub for all Paine Field area buses, including Community Everett and Metro Transit. Design is underway and project can be completed in 2017.
• Mukilteo Park & Ride, $3.48 million in 2015-17
This commuter park & ride will be located on Bernie Webber Drive on the west side of Paine Field, about a block off the Mukilteo Speedway. It will be primarily used for local residents catching routes to Seattle and UW. This project is awaiting final local matching funds.

Statewide Transit Funding from New Transportation Revenue Package 

Gas tax revenue, the primary revenue source for this legislation, cannot be used for any transit projects. These projects are funded through other sources defined in the legislation. Community Transit may compete for some of these grants, but funding is not guaranteed.

• Special Needs Transportation Grants increased from $25 million per biennium to $60 million
• Rural Mobility Grants increased from $17 million per biennium to $30 million
• Regional Mobility Grants increased from $40 million per biennium to $75.25 million
• Vanpool Grants increased from $6 million per biennium to $9.9 million
• Transit Agency Coordination (HB 1842), $5 million over 16 years
• Transit project earmarks, $111 million over 16 years (includes above $10 million for Swift)

Community Transit Ballot Measure -- What Does It Mean?

On July 16, the Community Transit Board of Directors voted to place a measure on the Nov. 3 general election ballot seeking an additional 0.3 percent sales tax for increased transit services.

The board resolution is not the final step. Technically, any candidate or jurisdiction in Snohomish County has until Aug. 4 to get on the November ballot. After that time, the County Auditor will release the official ballot. That should be just a formality for our measure.

A view of Mt. Rainier taken from the top deck of one of our
Double Talls serving Rte 402, traveling southbound on I-5.  

What does this mean? Who gets to vote?
The state has set sales tax as Community Transit’s only local means of funding, other than fares. Currently, Community Transit’s sales tax level is 0.9 percent, which is 9 cents on a $10 purchase. The new measure would add 3 cents to that same $10 purchase.

Community Transit’s sales tax is only collected in our service district, or public transportation benefit area (PTBA). Every city in Snohomish County, except Everett in in our PTBA (see map), as are many areas of the unincorporated county

Only people who live in the PTBA are eligible to vote on this measure, but anyone who shops in the PTBA pays taxes toward Community Transit. So, all those Skagit or King County residents who shop at the Seattle Premium Outlet Mall or Alderwood Mall help to support Community Transit.

That’s why we say “Buy Local for Transit!”

Why is new funding needed?
Remember when we cut service in 2010? People asked why we were the only local agency cutting service at that time. The reality is we made the tough, but fiscally responsible decision to balance our budget when revenues fell dramatically below our expenses.

The result is that we emerged from the recession early and began adding service when other transit agencies and local cities are still considering cuts.

Current service levels do not meet the demand for transit now. Ask any commuter who has to stand for 80 minutes to Seattle, or has a bus pass them by because it is already full. Or talk to the person who misses a connection and has to wait nearly an hour for the next bus.

New funding is needed so Community Transit can meet current and future transit demand in Snohomish County.

In the past two years, job growth has picked up and more people have moved to our county, and the region. The Mill Creek-Bothell area is one of the fastest growing areas in the country right now. And, forecasts for future growth are staggering: 240,000 more people and 130,000 more jobs are expected in Snohomish County by 2040, according to the Puget Sound Regional Council.

If new funding is approved, Community Transit will provide:

• More local bus trips throughout the day, as well as expanded service hours every day of the week.
• A second Swift bus rapid transit line between the state’s largest manufacturing job center at Boeing/Paine Field and Canyon Park/Bothell, Snohomish County’s high-tech job center.
• More commuter bus trips to downtown Seattle and the University of Washington.
• Increased east-west connections within the county.
• More bus service to job, housing and educational centers throughout the county, including communities such as Arlington, Monroe and Stanwood.
• New routes, such as Marysville-to-McCollum Park via Lake Stevens, Snohomish and Silver Firs via Highway 9.
• Reconfigured local bus service to connect with Sound Transit Link light rail when it reaches Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood and, eventually, Everett.
• More vanpools and expanded DART paratransit service.

The additional sales tax would generate about $25 million a year for more transit service. In addition, Community Transit could bring in up to $50 million in federal and state funding to complete the second Swift line, and possibly more grant funding for a third Swift line to link up with light rail by 2023.

A new web page is being set up to answer questions about the ballot measure. Go ahead and start asking questions here, now.

Four Things You Should Know About Our New Double Tall Buses

By Laurel McJannet

Back in May, The Herald had a post on their Street Smarts blog about Community Transit's order of 22 double decker buses to be delivered this summer. These buses will increase our fleet of Double Talls (as we affectionately call them) to a whopping 45 total this summer.

Guess what? Three of them have arrived and I was able to take some pictures and find out what new features these new buses will offer.

I know what you're thinking-- when will they be on the road? Will they be put on my route?

Before the buses can be put on the road, they will be inspected and cleaned, as well as outfitted with transit technology (GPS, ORCA and a farebox.) This process takes 3-4 weeks or longer depending on if we find something that needs to be fixed before they go into service. Once they are assigned to a route, we'll update this post.

In the meantime, we know inquiring minds want to know what's new with these buses, so here are some highlights.

Good Things Come in Small Packages. Here is a picture of a current and a new Double Tall -- an updated Enviro 500 from Alexander Dennis. The new one is on the bottom (you can see it hasn't been branded yet with "The Double Tall" decal on the front). At first glimpse, they appear the same, but the new Double Tall is six inches shorter in height, which is good because this means the buses can fit at places they previously could not.

The new Double Talls, with high-back reclining seats, will hold 80 passengers (49 upstairs and 31 downstairs OR 25 + two wheelchairs).



New Bike Rack. The new Double Tall has a bike rack that holds 3 bikes! All new buses will have this bike rack and, eventually, all buses will follow suit and upgrade from their current 2-bike rack.

(Left) New Double Tall. (Right) Current Double Tall

The upper deck (pictured above) is largely unchanged. As you can see, there's slightly less room in the front row of the upper deck, but the unobstructed view remains the same. You're actually closer to the action!

Last but not least... a lower deck monitor! There is a monitor at the bottom of the staircase leading to the upper deck. Ever have those days where you race up the stairs to the upper deck, find it's full and have to make the climb back downstairs? Now, you'll be able to see if there are seats available on the upper deck before schlepping yourself and your bags up those stairs. Genius, I say!

So, there you have it. A sneak peek at our newest Double Talls. Is there anything else you'd like to see/know about them? Let us know in the comments.

Community Transit Recognizes Leaders in Smart Transportation Options

Community Transit’s Choice Connections program recognizes worksites in Snohomish County and the City of Bothell who support Washington State Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) goals. They go above and beyond to encourage their employees to use smart transportation options to driving alone.

 

Smart Commuter of the Quarter, Josefina Behymer

Congratulations to the Choice Connections award winners for 1st Quarter 2015:

Smart Commuter of the Quarter
Josefina Behymer is a liaison between internal buyers and engineers at Boeing Canyon Park Commons in Bothell. She is a vital connection to ensure that orders are accurate and streamlined. Josefina displays her commitment to smart transportation choices by taking the ferry and vanpooling for her commute of 88 miles each day. We’d like to recognize Josefina for her devotion to smart transportation choices that help keep the environment healthy for everyone!

Employee Transportation Coordinator (ETC) of the Quarter
Woody Whitaker has been the ETC for Allstate for eight years. He provides employees with support and information about their transportation options, and helps them find an attractive commute to fit their lifestyle. Woody takes the time to meet with Allstate’s new employees to explain the company’s subsidy program, as well as commute options to their Bothell worksite. Woody’s continued support of the program has resulted in 25% of the worksite’s employees logging trips in RideshareOnline.com, saving over 78,000 miles and more than $22,800 in fuel during the first quarter of 2015. 

Employer of the Quarter
Electric Mirror made a big commitment to smart transportation when it implemented a subsidy program for their carpools and vanpools. Parking was at a premium at their South Everett worksite, so they took a proactive approach to fix their overcrowded parking lots. Electric Mirror announced the rollout of a subsidy program to their employees in the month of February and began sign ups in March. As a result, 20% of their workforce is now carpooling. During the first quarter of 2015 their efforts removed 1,146 trips and more than 12,000 drive alone miles. 

Choice Connections rewards commuters for choosing smart transportation options and offers the tools and resources needed to get started. When you choose a smart commute, your efforts reduce traffic, save money and time, and help the environment. To learn more about the Choice Connections program, please visit www.community transit/ChoiceConnections.

 

Welcome Back Sunday Service !

By Emmett Heath, Community Transit CEO

On Sunday, June 7, Community Transit will return to a 365-day transit operation. It has always been our mission to serve the residents of Snohomish County the best we can. The Great Recession interrupted our ability to do so, in a number of ways.

Emmett Heath, CEO

Returning Sunday and holiday service is one of several actions we are taking to make good on our promise to fulfill our mission to customers.

Beginning June 7, we will add 27,000 hours of bus and paratransit service to our system, the largest increase since the recession.
• We are adding more trips in the mid-day and on Saturday.
• We are restoring a one-seat ride between Granite Falls and the Boeing plant in Everett.
• We are providing more robust service along Highway 2 in east Snohomish County, and serving job centers in Monroe that we had previously cut.

In the past year, we have hired 120 drivers to offset attrition and to ramp up for this service expansion. These new drivers are happy to be working here, and we’re excited to have them. Next week, we will have all our buses in service and all our drivers on the road doing their best to get you where you need to go, safely and on schedule.

But we’re not stopping there.

We have 22 new Double Tall buses that will be delivered this summer. Seventeen of those will replace older 60-foot buses, adding extra seats on the Seattle trips they serve. Five of those will be additions to the fleet that will increase our ability to serve that popular Snohomish County-to-Seattle market.

We also have ordered 10 additional 60-foot buses that will arrive in early 2016. Those buses will be available to increase our service within Snohomish County as many of our routes, particularly in the south county, are running at capacity.

Today, with concurrence from our Board of Directors, we approved a plan to add more service hours this fall. It is an acceleration of our planned 2016 service enhancement, but it will not provide extra trips. These 12,000 service hours will be used to adjust our schedules on trips that have been struggling to run on time as overall traffic congestion has increased travel times. These hours will go to trips running on I-5 to UW and downtown Seattle, as well as local trips on Routes 115/116 and 201/202.

We like to get people to their destinations on schedule, and some daily driving conditions prevent us from doing so now and then. When we see trips that run late almost every day, we have to invest in more service hours to give our customers a reliable schedule. That’s what we’ll be doing this fall.

I thank you for supporting Community Transit, and wish you a safe and pleasant ride.

Art Is Not What You Make - It's What You Make Of It

Over the past several months, we’ve had the pleasure of partnering with art students from Mariner High School. They designed and created 42 panels for our Mariner Park and Ride bus shelters that are now on display. Their hard work is a shining example of the artistic youth in our community, and leaves a lasting artist impression for everyone to enjoy.

We were lucky to capture the first hand experiences from Racheal Yi, a student involved in the art project. Wise beyond her years, she shares with us her experiences and pride for the project:

As a student in the Mariner High School Art department, I feel honored to say that in the past several weeks I participated in one of the most important projects that this classroom has completed during its history. For nearly two months, our classroom worked on a mural to express what is so underrepresented in this community: some of Everett’s finest artistic minds and creative youth. We worked as a team on a total of 42 panels that will be installed at the Mariner Park & Ride bus stop. There was never a moment when we were not working as a team, but this did not limit our room for individual creativity; the production of each panel required thoughtful, original input from multiple artists who brought their ideas forward to produce something with consummate prestige.

Community Transit approached our advanced art class this year with an opportunity that most of us had never come close to having before: to work freely on a lasting piece of artwork that would represent our creative roles in this community for years to come. The unique thing about this project was that as much as we felt free to create something almost completely from scratch, we also felt the pressure of knowing that our art would serve as a demonstration of the creative dynamics of not only our school, but of our entire community.

In the planning stages of this project, our class started out with multiple different ideas that were eventually narrowed down to four major themes: Surrealism, Evolution of Art & Transit, One Way or Another and Transit Through the Ages. All of these themes synthesized different modes of transportation with different styles of art, allowing us to meet the needs of Community Transit while demonstrating our creativity as artists. Surrealism features extraordinary subjects in surreal settings. Evolution of Art & Transit and Transit Through the Ages depict the evolution of transportation over time, as well as various different styles of art. One Way or Another expresses transportation since the beginning of time through modern silhouettes in vibrant settings.

From this experience, our class learned a lot about being mature, individual artists. It will surely be rewarding to see our work age with us as we continue to strive for nothing but the best as creative thinkers. We hope that through the completion of this project, we can encourage more recognition for the artistic youth of this community. The production and installment of this mural will surely last as a major impact on our lives as we grow from students to leaders. Additionally, the production of this mural gave us some real-world experience as contemporary artists - we worked with a client’s needs in mind as we exercised our artistic vision as well. This experience served as a professional example of what many of us may decide to work with in the future, while also giving us the freedom that we need as young adults.

The most important lesson that many of us have learned from our experiences in the Fine Arts department is that art is not to be defined by a sentence or by an image; art can be defined only through one’s interpretation of something new. Art is not the ability to paint well. It is not a measure of intellectual capacity. It is the freedom to let something promote thought and consciousness.

We hope that by leaving this legacy behind, we can advocate more creativity and an increased representation of a student’s artistic capacity. We hope that even after we exit the halls of our school for the very last time, art can be a universal medium through which this community’s students can interact with the world. Perhaps someday, art can become a more recognized mode of expression.

After all, art is not what you make - it’s what you make of it.