The Route Ahead | May 2021 | Community Transit News

Fall Service Change: Buses to meet light rail at Northgate

Over the next few years as light rail moves north, Community Transit is working to connect bus and light rail travel options. The first major step will start this fall. Sound Transit announced that Northgate Link will open on Oct. 2 and some Snohomish County buses will start making this new connection!

You can read more here.

Tales from Lost & Found

If you lost something on the bus, chances are you’ll find it in Community Transit’s Lost & Found, located in the Lynnwood Transit Center RideStore. They come across all sorts of items – once they even found a kitchen sink!

Read more about how to reconnect with your lost things.

Community Transit Receives Green Building Award

Community Transit was awarded the Greenroads 2020 International Pioneer Program Award. This award recognizes the top public organization exhibiting leadership in sustainable transportation. Community Transit won for commitment to environmental sustainability in the agency’s transit facility construction. Community Transit is the only transit agency in the world to have two of its transit facilities achieve a Silver Certification from Greenroads International.  

Click here to read the blog post from Greenroads.

Advocating for Transit in Olympia

The 2021 legislative session was one for the history books. Due to COVID-19, this session was conducted virtually with just a handful of legislators and staff attending in person to conduct the day-to-day duties of running the legislature.

As the agency does every year, Community Transit supported legislation that was beneficial to transit customers.

CEO Ric Ilgenfritz and Government Relations Manager Uriel Ybarra testified before legislative committees in favor of long-term transportation revenue packages. While neither the House nor Senate proposals made it to the governor’s desk — both contained significant measures benefiting Community Transit — Davor Gjurasic, Community Transit’s contract lobbyist, told the Board of Directors last week that the agency’s legislative goals were met.

“Community Transit’s goals were twofold,” he told the board, “Swift build-out funding and no harm to public transit.”

The agency was awarded a $3.7 million Regional Mobility Grant for Swift Blue Line expansion as part of the state transportation budget. Also, a $5 million Regional Mobility Grant for Swift Green Line operations awarded in the previous biennium received an additional $5 million for the current biennium in the transportation budget.

Community Transit and Access to Vaccines

Public health experts are encouraging vaccinations as the best way out of this pandemic, and I could not agree more. The sooner most of us are vaccinated, the safer it is for our customers, our employees, and the whole community.

I’m pleased Community Transit is doing its part to promote vaccinations and public health. We have partnered with the Snohomish Health District to provide the first transit-friendly mass COVID-19 vaccination site in Snohomish County at Ash Way Park & Ride. The county needed an accessible site in the southern part of the county, making Ash Way Park & Ride the perfect location. While this location includes a drive through option like other mass vaccination sites, it is the only one that also offers a walk-up option that is accessible by substantial bus service in Snohomish County.

Providing flexible options served by transit means that more people have access to the COVID-19 vaccine. New evidence shows that one of the biggest barriers to vaccination is schedule convenience. In response, vaccines are now available during weekend and evening hours at Ash Way. There are 17 bus routes serving this location, so people can access the site by transit any time the clinic is open.

Another option is to use Community Transit’s online Trip Planner if you have a favorite pharmacy or doctor’s office where you’d like to get your vaccine. You can type in the address of the store or office and plan your route. We are also provide free rides for our DART customers to get their vaccines.

And as of last week, it’s easier than ever to get a vaccine. You no longer need an appointment at Ash Way or any of the mass vaccination sites in the county. Making an appointment is still recommended, and you can do that online at http://bit.ly/snocovaccine, or by calling (425) 339-5278 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Please stay safe and get vaccinated! And, if you have feedback or a story to share about using transit to get your vaccine, we would love to hear about it. You can send your feedback to riders@commtrans.org.

Ric Ilgenfritz
Community Transit CEO