Bus agency direly in need of audit

Snohomish County Community Transit recently made an announcement regarding ridership on their new “Swift” bus service. (Thursday article, “Riders take to Community Transit’s Swift buses”).

I would say that the total lack of budget transparency at Community Transit throughout the public comment period on Community Transit service eliminations are a particular concern. If you go to their Web site, Community Transit touts a host of “whiz bang” initiatives. Among the standouts are the Swift bus service and a multi-story parking garage. There are others such as the robotic announcement service that will inform passengers of their stop and a cell phone service to call into to find out the estimated time of arrival of the next bus.

Gee, that’s great, but all their bus schedule arrival and departures are an “estimate.”

Community Transit management was forward-thinking enough to obtain funding and spend it on questionable frills but they cannot seem to manage or maintain service to those in the “community” that really depend on the service they are supposed to provide.

I think that the “community” should demand a formal audit. The public at the public comment meetings did make multiple requests. They were stonewalled.

It is going to be a tough commute come summer when hundreds more join the I-5 and U.S. 2 crawl.

David L. Clay

Snohomish

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