City of Tacoma Washington sent this bulletin at 10/31/2025 10:19 AM PDT
Hello, Tacoma!
Our incredible city is experiencing significant growth, welcoming new community members, businesses, and institutions. To manage this growth, we need a multimodal transportation system that can move more people while also increasing safety, reducing emissions, and improving accessibility.
Expanding access to transportation options, including high-quality public transit, walking, rolling, and bicycling, is one of my great passions. As part of this work, I am thrilled to serve as a member of the Pierce Transit Board and the Sound Transit Board of Directors. By serving in these roles, I am able to work hard to improve our multimodal network and ensure that all our transit options are accessible citywide. I'm excited to be leading on this important work and pleased to share a few Sound Transit and Pierce Transit updates with you!
Sound Transit Survey
We have a new survey out for Sound Transit--and we want to hear from you! By the end of 2026, Link light rail will provide expanded service to many communities across the region. To maximize the benefits of this new service, Sound Transit is developing a plan to change some ST Express routes to improve regional mobility. We invite our ST Express riders to share their feedback on our bus service proposals, including a proposal for new Overnight ST Express Service.
The ST Express survey is open now through November 11. Website and survey are available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese (Traditional & Simplified), Russian, and Tagalog.
Federal Employees Ride Free on Pierce Transit During Government Shutdown
I am very pleased to share that Pierce Transit will allow all federal employees who present their government-issued ID to ride free during the federal government shutdown. This temporary fare waiver applies to all Pierce Transit services, including Bus, SHUTTLE paratransit, Runner, and Rideshare.
The federal government is the largest employer in Kitsap and Pierce counties, with Naval Base Kitsap and Joint Base Lewis-McChord collectively employing about 100,000 people. Many of them commute to their work sites on public transit, and their fares are covered by the federal government in normal times. However, since the federal government shut down on October 1, 2025, federal workers have been unable to reload funds to their transit passes for rides in November.
You can find more City updates and resources on our website at tacoma.gov.
I also invite you to tune in to the City Council’s Study Session or City Council meetings every week on Tuesdays via TV Tacoma or Zoom. Access information is available at tacoma.gov/councilmeetings.
I hope you will reach out to me with any questions. I can be reached at: KWalker@tacoma.gov.
