We're looking for people to "Drive It"

Looking for a career that takes you somewhere? We're hiring full-time and part-time Coach Operators to help drive our fleet!

  
We pride ourselves on providing excellent training to excellent drivers. In just nine weeks, you could be on the road with a Commercial Driver's License. We will teach you everything you need to know to pass the CDL exams with confidence.

You'll learn to be the best in an intensive training program that includes 35 hours in the classroom and 240 hours on the road. Once you've earned your CDL, you'll spend two weeks driving a bus with another Coach Operator aboard to assist you. At the end of the training program, we host an event to celebrate YOU and welcome you to the Community Transit family!

Even better? You'll earn while you learn! Community Transit values its drivers (without you, we can't get to where we're going). We offer paid training at $19.75 with benefits for the whole family (including medical, dental, and vision). Our competitive pay starts at $48,319 ($23.23/hour) after graduation, with earning potential up to $61,027 ($29.34/hour).

Ready to roll? Apply today! We can't wait to welcome you aboard.

Richard, Maurice, Sara, and Anne are already on the road!

One of our largest graduating classes of 2015!

150,000 days of driving less = $25,000. Are you in?

If King, Pierce and Snohomish County smart travelers collectively reach the goal 150,000 less drive-alone days during the month of February, $25,000 will be donated to local charities.

The extra generous commuters who log 12 or more days during the month of February could win the chance to have a $200 donation made in their name to the charity of their choice.

Days for Donations is still going strong, have you used a smart commute option yet?

You still have time to have your smart commute trips count toward our regional goal of 150,000 days of driving less and $25,000 donated to local charities in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties. Go to www.RideshareOnline.com and record your commutes.

To participate and qualify for one of many prize drawings you need to:

• Bicycle, share a ride, ride the bus or train, or walk to work as many days as you can in February. You can also participate by compressing your work schedule or teleworking.
• Log your commutes at www.RideshareOnline.com.

One of our partners for Days for Donations, United Way of Snohomish County, is dedicated to helping community members of all ages. 

Youth United has given Beth a way to fit into
and give back to her community.

Beth emigrated from Ethiopia with her family several years ago, and wanted so badly to fit in and give back to her new community.

‘I felt so out of place, but I didn’t know where to start,’ Beth recalls.

When Beth learned about Youth United, she knew she was headed in the right direction.

‘Once I started volunteering with Youth United, I met friends and learned that every time I serve, I light up. Volunteering with Youth United gave me a place to belong. It gave me direction,’ says Beth.

United Way developed the Youth United program to give teens the opportunity to strengthen the community and become engaged in issues that matter to them.

Today, Beth continues to be active in her community and her high school, and dreams of attending Stanford Law in the future. As a lawyer, Beth wants to serve low-income clients and immigrants. Youth United connected Beth to her new community; a community she will continue to strengthen in the future.

For more information visit www.WheelOptions.org.

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?