EVERETT – Everett Transit riders will soon see the benefits of the sales-tax increase voters approved last month.
The agency will improve service on five routes beginning Nov. 28. Another change in February will improve service downtown and add four drivers. ET plans a major citywide service expansion for August.
In addition, beginning Christmas Day, Everett Transit will start running buses on the six holidays on which it now provides no service: Christmas, New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.
Voters on Sept. 14 approved an initiative that doubled Everett Transit’s share of the local sales tax from 0.3 percent to 0.6 percent. The tax increase is expected to take effect Jan. 1. Retail customers in Everett will start paying a sales tax of 8.6 cents on each $1, rather than 8.3 cents.
The agency won’t start receiving the additional money until the end of March. It will pay for the November and February service changes with money from $500,000 in cash reserves, said Paul Kaftanski, director of transportation services.
“There are a lot of people who need new service right now,” he said.
The Nov. 28 changes will expand service on Routes 1, 7, 9, 19 and 20. Service was cut 14 percent last year.
The agency is holding an all-day open house Friday to tell riders about the changes and to get suggestions for future improvements.
The August changes will restore service to the peak reached in 1994, Kaftanski said. In coming years, service will expand further, to keep up with job and population increases and to make bus service convenient enough that it will lure some drivers out of their cars, Kaftanski said.
Everett Transit will hold more open houses and neighborhood meetings beginning in late winter to get further suggestions for the August changes, said Tom Hingson, transportation systems manager. Drivers will hand out surveys on buses.
Two of the four drivers who will be hired in February will serve riders with disabilities who use door-to-door minibuses. The city doesn’t expect an increase in demand for the service. The new drivers will help reduce overtime costs, Kaftanski said.
The improvements to fixed-route bus service could decrease demand for the door-to-door minibuses, Kaftanski said. That would reduce costs to the agency and allow riders with disabilities to be more independent, he said.
The service expansions might add bus stops closer to disabled riders’ homes, he said. That would give those riders the option of taking the more-convenient fixed-route buses instead of having to plan their day around the door-to-door buses. All ET buses are wheelchair-accessible.
The agency estimates that its sales tax revenue will increase from $6.7 million this year to $12 million in 2005. The agency’s total budget next year will be an estimated $16.9 million.
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
