LYNNWOOD — Life just got easier for transit users in Lynnwood.
The new Lynnwood Transit Center at the Lynnwood Park &Ride opened Sept. 28 along with Community Transit’s new ride store which opens at the facility on Oct. 27.
The new center will provide more convenient bus connections for Snohomish County residents, officials said.
Along with the opening of the Ride Store, Sound Transit officials will be at the facility at 10 a.m., Oct. 27 to open the new facility with an official ceremony.
The Ride Store is the first of its kind in the Northwest, combining a transit museum with a place to buy bus passes, tickets and memorabilia, said Tom Pearce, spokesman for Community Transit.
“There will also be Community Transit apparel and all sorts of things geared toward commuters such as key chains and first aid kits and more,” Pearce said.
Daily commuters say they’re excited about the new facility with covered waiting areas, the Ride store and an espresso stand. A vendor has yet to be selected for the espresso stand but officials hope to have it open soon as well.
“We’re here everyday,” said Cassandra Cox, who was waiting out of the rain for her bus with her 4-year-old daughter, Shyrell, under the new covers. Cox said she is excited to be able to take advantage of the new Ride Store
With the Sept. 28 schedule change, more than 700 bus trips per weekday will pass through the Lynnwood Transit Center, serving more than 10,000 passengers daily, Pearce said.
Anthony Anduiza rides the bus everyday to Edmonds-Woodway High School where he is a student.
He said he’s doesn’t like the new schedule because he has to wait longer for the bus. But he did say the new schedule allows him to get home sooner, which he said he does like.
“I’m sure looking forward to the Ride Store opening, it will make the time pass easier,” Anduiza said. He added he also likes the new coverings of the facility and he said the signage for the buses are easier to understand and use.
The new center moves buses to new bays located just north of the old stops. Community Transit and Sound Transit representatives are on hand to assist passengers and answer service questions, Pearce said.
The center will make it easier to change buses, particularly for commuters.
“Local and commuter buses will all be in one central location, instead of at separate islands,” Pearce said.
The $33.6 million center is a Sound Transit project, designed to increase convenience and add much needed parking at the Lynnwood Park &Ride, which Community Transit opened in 1981.
With 300 new parking spaces, the facility will have more than 1,200 spaces, making it the largest in the state, according to Pearce. Sound Transit officials say the project is part of the return on the investment by Snohomish County taxpayers who – along with voters in King and Pierce Counties – passed in 1996.
“With the local and commuter bus bays in one compact location, it’s much easier to make taking the bus the first choice. It will be faster to ride a local bus to the Transit Center, then get on a commuter bus without the hassle of driving,” said Joyce Olson, head of Community Transit.
Work continues at the site with the old bays being demolished and more parking spaces are being added. Work on that portion of the project is expected to finish by the end of 2003, Pearce said.
The major construction on the freeway near the 44th Avenue W. off-ramp is Sound Transit’s HOV direct access ramp project. The ramps will allow buses and other vehicles using the HOV lanes to go between the facility and the I-5 HOV lanes without using surface streets or regular freeway on-ramps. That change will reduce the length of some trips by as much as 15 minutes, said Lee Somerstein, spokesman for Sound Transit.
Sound Transit broke ground on the ramps project in April and its estimated completion date is scheduled for spring of 2005, Somerstein said.
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