Community Transit expanding service

EVERETT — While many other government agencies are cutting back or holding the line, Community Transit is expanding.

Snohomish County’s primary transit provider is hiring more drivers, adding service and spending 7 percent more in 2009 than in 2008, spokesman Tom Pearce said.

The agency’s board of directors has approved an operating budget of $120.2 million and a capital budget of $86.4 million for 2009, for a total of $206.6 million.

Community Transit saved money this year without cutting jobs or service, Pearce said. It postponed plans to order replacement buses and cut administrative and marketing expenditures, and fares were increased in October.

Community Transit’s leadership has been careful with its finances and has built up reserves over the years to be ready for a time like this, said Marysville Mayor Dennis Kendall, chairman of the Community Transit board.

“We will continue these policies in 2009 with a careful eye toward 2010,” Kendall said.

All the new service is coming in the form of “swift bus” transit between Everett and Shoreline on Highway 99. The agency is spending $32 million on new stations and buses, plus hiring 32 more drivers for the new service, expected to start next fall.

The service will feature more buses and fewer stops, speeding travel times.

The agency is paying for the new items with projected increases in fare-box revenue and through reserves, Pearce said. The agency posted record ridership months in May, June, July and October of this year.

Other features of the 2009 budget include:

Money to finish the $19 million new park-and-ride structure in Mountlake Terrace at 236th Street SW and I-5, scheduled to open in February;

$19.2 million for 23 double-decker buses to be used on commuter routes beginning in 2010;

$4 million for a new park-and-ride lot at Cedar Avenue and Grove Street in Marysville;

$3 million to allow for market volatility in fuel prices.

Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.