They seem a great waste of money

On Jan. 25, I rode the Swift bus round trip from 196th and Highway 99 in Lynnwood from 1:38 p.m. to 3:53 p.m. to find out how many people ride it. On the way to Everett Station, there were at the peak six people riding the bus and from Everett Station to 196th there were at the peak 13 people riding the bus. I have talked to people who told me that at other times those buses carried even less than 13 riders. This is a bus that has a capacity of up to 80 riders.

So why were 12 Swift buses bought for so few riders? It seems to me that the transit people at the top did some terrible planning at great expense to the taxpayers. I also think that it isn’t necessary to be able to catch one of these buses every 10 minutes. It is a waste of taxpayers’ money.

On Jan. 26 I went to the transit public meeting in the Mountlake Terrace library and asked why we can’t cut back on Swift bus service and use that money for routes that can possibly be saved from the ax. The moderator said that even if transit could save money that money could not be used elsewhere because of some stipulation. What she was in effect saying is that they are going to keep on wasting the taxpayers’ money. How ridiculous.

Then I heard talk of Community Transit buying double deck buses. Is that going to be a decision like that of the Swift buses? And people making well over $100,000 a year make these decisions!

Peter Boonstra

Lynnwood