Brenda Tritt lives in Lake Stevens, works in Clearview and can’t take the bus to her job.
It isn’t that Tritt, a waitress at the Clearview Cafe, needs her car while she’s working. It’s just that for anyone going to Clearview or Maltby, there’s no bus to take.
Community Transit, which runs buses across most of Snohomish County, doesn’t serve that area. That could change soon.
The agency is hearing from more and more people who live and work in the 45-square-mile area between Snohomish, Mill Creek and Woodinville that they’d like to ride the bus, officials say.
One reason for the new interest can be summed up by Tritt: It recently cost her $45 to fill up her Subaru.
“I tell you, I’ve been thinking of different alternatives,” she said.
Voters in the area would have to approve the plan. Community Transit is considering a November ballot measure. The nine-member board of directors, made up of elected officials from the county and cities, is scheduled to decide Aug. 7 whether to pursue the vote.
The agency is planning meetings in the area later this month, yet to be scheduled, to discuss the idea. A public hearing is planned for the board meeting Aug. 7.
To get the bus service, businesses in the area would have to increase their sales tax by nine-tenths of a cent per dollar, the same rate charged for Community Transit in the remainder of its service area. This would amount to an extra 9 cents on a $10 purchase.
Area voters rejected a 1997 vote for bus service, 53 percent to 47 percent. Several other communities joined CT’s service area that year, the last time it expanded.
Now, in addition to more interest from people in the Maltby-Clearview area, “there’s a growing population out there and there’s a need for transit service in the Highway 9 corridor,” Community Transit spokesman Tom Pearce said.
The area has added about 4,000 residents in the past 10 years, for a total of about 31,000 now, and its population is expected to reach 55,000 in the next 20 years, according to CT. It’s expected to have 8,000 jobs by 2011, when the Brightwater sewage treatment plant, now under construction, is scheduled to open.
This spring, Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon announced plans for development of county land in the Cathcart area that would include a transit center at Highway 9 and Cathcart Way.
It’s not known exactly which streets would be served, but major roads such as Highway 9 and Highway 524, also known as Maltby Road, would be likely candidates, Pearce said.
“Having bus routes on Highway 9 and east-west corridors like Cathcart Way and Maltby Road could reduce the number of cars on those roads and provide options for thousands of people who live, work or visit the area,” Community Transit director Joyce Eleanor said in a written statement.
Jeff Hillis, 25, drives from his home near Highway 527, between Bothell and Mill Creek, to his job in Maltby at PSM, which manufactures equipment for backhoes. He’d like to be able to ride a bus to work along Maltby Road.
“I’d catch that,” he said. “I think it’d be a good idea.”
Lori Garcia, 50, lives in Maltby and would like to be able to take the bus to work.
“Public transportation from here to Kirkland would make my day,” she said.
Sandra Albright, a co-owner of the Maltby Cafe, said many prospective employees have had to turn down jobs there because they didn’t have transportation.
“I have people who can’t get a job here because they can’t get a bus here,” she said.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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