EVERETT — Community Transit and Everett Transit are looking for feedback from Snohomish County residents on two planning documents currently in the works.
State law requires transit agencies to update certain planning documents regularly. Community Transit is currently working in the final stages of its transit development plan, a shorter-term document put in place to help implement the goals of an agency’s long-range plans, which prepare for decades into the future. Everett Transit is resuming work on its long-range plan after a pause to allow the city to approve its comprehensive plan periodic update.
On Tuesday, Everett Transit launched an online survey to gather feedback on its long-range plan that is still in the works.
Ridership is expected to triple over the next two decades as Everett’s population grows. The plan is set to increase service hours by 25% along its bus routes, with more frequent arrivals on some key routes and extended service hours on weekdays and weekends.
To help support that growth, the agency expects a need for voters to approve a sales tax increase to allow for service expansion. It first recommended a 0.3% sales tax increase as part of its last long range plan in 2018, and will maintain that recommendation in the latest plan, an Everett Transit website reads. The current plan assumes an increase from the current rate of 0.6% to 0.9% in 2030, contingent on City Council and voter approval.
Everett Transit’s survey is available online at tinyurl.com/yck3be7m. The agency will develop a draft of its long-range plan in early 2026. The council is expected to adopt the plan in March or April of next year.
In 2023, Community Transit approved its long-range plan covering the agency’s goals through 2050. It aims to dramatically increase the agency’s Swift bus rapid transit services and “microtransit” services like vanpools and on-demand shuttles.
By 2050, over 70% of Community Transit routes will feature wait times under 15 minutes, the plan reads. It also plans to have a zero-emission fleet by 2044.
Community Transit’s board of directors will hear public comment Thursday on its latest five-year transit development plan, which lays out a path toward future service expansion and fleet electrification. The agency completed a draft version of the plan, which is available for review online.
Some of the most significant expansions in the coming years will focus on the agency’s bus rapid transit network. By 2031, Community Transit expects to expand its Swift Green Line to connect the University of Washington Bothell campus in north King County to the Boeing factory in Everett. Around the same time, the agency plans to open the Swift Gold Line, connecting downtown Everett to Marysville and Arlington.
Community Transit will also start deploying some electric buses into service by 2027, according to the draft plan.
Other improvements could include adding signal priority to transit or bis priority lanes, the plan reads, which can help improve the speed and reliability of transit. The agency is also considering upgrades to its website, including real-time data on seat and wheelchair availability on buses.
Community Transit is aiming for a 9 percent increase in service over the next five years. Some other areas which could see increases in bus frequency include Lynnwood, Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo, Mill Creek, Bothell and Silver Firs, the plan reads.
The Board of Directors will hear public comment during its next meeting at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Community Transit Board Room, located at 2312 Casino Road in Everett. Written comments can be emailed to engage@commtrans.org.
The Community Transit board will vote on the plan in August.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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