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5/17/12   |   8:46   |   127 views   |  

Community Transit: Building a Sustainable Future in a New Economic Reality

Joyce Eleanor, CEO of Community Transit, relates how the agency is working to transform and resize operations for long-term financial stability and efficiency, following service cuts in February 2012.

Transcript

Public transportation agencies across the United States continue to face budget challenges as a result of a new economic reality caused by the recession. In order to survive, agencies—like Community Transit—have been forced to cut service, cut expenses and eliminate jobs. This dramatically affects citizens who depend on our services, and the communities where they work and live.

 

I’m Joyce Eleanor, CEO of Community Transit. We’ve been your bus service provider for Snohomish County since 1976, and I sincerely regret these service cuts and the impact it has on our customers.

 

In February 2012, Community Transit will cut about 20 percent more of its service. This follows a 15 percent cut in 2010.

 

Community Transit depends on a robust economy, since operating costs are funded by a portion of voter-approved sales tax revenues. In the past 4 years , those revenues have dropped to 2005 levels as a result of the recession. But at the same time, the cost of labor, medical benefits, fuel, equipment and utilities has steadily increased. 

 

After cutting service in February 2012, we will be at a 2002 service level. This chart shows how we will have reduced bus service by 37 percent after that service change in February.

 

You can’t cut ten years worth of service without impacting riders and their lifestyles. 

 

Along with service cuts, Community Transit is making some bold and painful changes internally. We’re in the process of transforming operations and resizing the total workforce for long-term financial stability and efficiency.

 

This fall, based on public input, the Community Transit Board of Directors approved an alternative service plan that will go into effect on February 20, 2012. 

 

Our board of directors’ decision was a difficult but healthy step toward the future. While nobody wants to cut service, the board recognized that it was important to serve as many locations as possible with the limited resources available. So rather than just lengthen the time between buses, they opted to offer service on a more connective and productive transit network that is also sustainable financially. While it does mean more transfers for some people, it also offers more choices. 

 

The plan does not restore any Sunday service for our riders—our financial condition is still fragile. 

 

But here is what the plan does do: it preserves higher ridership corridors and most of our current geographic coverage. On major corridors, it offers more departure times on a single route. It maintains cost-effective service while offering more alternatives. 

 

This provides the immediate cost savings required by today’s economy and also looks ahead to future growth for Community Transit.

 

This service cut is the most sustainable decision we can make. Redesigning our system will help us serve the most people possible, while still cutting 80,000 hours of annual service.

 

There will be fewer trips on almost every route, bus frequencies will be decreased, and buses will end service between 10 and 11 p.m. on weekdays. 

 

Many riders are going to be inconvenienced. Buses are going to be crowded, and we’ll lose some passengers whose schedules just cannot work with the new service plan. 

 

But bus riders are smart. They find ways to make things work. After our service cut in June 2010, we lost some riders, but they came back. In fact, one year later, we have as many riders on our system as before the cuts.

 

Snohomish County’s population and employment will continue to grow while actual transit service hours are diminishing. Forecasts call for twice the level of service we operated before the recession and service cuts began. 

 

The demand clearly exceeds the supply.

 

When we consider our cost of providing service, a critical calculation is our cost per rider. We use three measures: the number of riders, the fare paid, and cost of the trip. This data-driven planning process provides service to the highest number of riders, at the lowest cost. 

 

It will allow Community Transit to be nimble and responsive to changes in operating conditions and ridership.

 

Another tool is our Long Range Plan—developed in partnership with local city and county jurisdictions. It is a strategy for meeting future travel demand with high-frequency bus service on Transit Emphasis Corridors.  

 

These corridors connect busy downtowns and job centers in Snohomish County, just like we serve with Swift bus rapid transit on Highway 99. Someday, other busy corridors will also have Swift. While we must now reduce service to save costs, the 2012 service plan supports a more financially stable local bus network.  

 

We are not giving up on this Long-Range Plan. As the economy recovers and service levels eventually grow, this new network will position us to implement the vision for transit in Snohomish County. 

 

The 2012 service plan has been approved, but there is still a great deal of work underway to finalize stops, connections and schedules. 

 

No specific trip times are available yet, but to learn about how each route will be affected, riders can get details on our website at www.communitytransit.org/2012changes. Our staff members will also be at transit centers and park and rides this winter to help riders understand the changes before the service cuts go into effect.  

 

Recovery from economic recession defines the road ahead for Community Transit. We know that market demand calls for significant future growth in our services. Our ridership figures show that the demand is there now with a steady increase in ridership for the last four consecutive quarters.  

 

But along with forecasting our future, we were forced to reduce our workforce in 2010, 2011 and will again in 2012, for a total of 206 positions lost. 

 

We have had to lay off someone who may have driven your bus, kept your bus maintained or helped you on the phone. And for you, this has meant less service on the street. So we know these cuts are painful. 

 

We’re doing everything we can to generate revenue to restore service. First, economic recovery will create some sales tax revenue but that will be a slow process, with a forecast for only modest growth for years to come. 

 

Second, retaining ridership and enforcing fare payment. 

 

Third, we continue to actively seek funding on both the federal and state level, but the most promising and significant funding for service is from the state.  

 

We’re going to the state Legislature for help with funding our long-range plan and we will also apply for grant funding where possible. 

 

And talking to our legislators about the important role Community Transit plays in this region is crucial in getting the funding we so desperately need for services people need most.

 

We have a vision of Community Transit for the future as a smarter, leaner and more efficient agency…finding ways to keep our cost structure low, and changing the way we work internally. 

 

And with new advances in technology, we’ll make decisions based on more frequent and complete data, such as the number of riders by route and time of day.  

 

This gives us unprecedented clarity in how the system is working. 

 

We want to bring Community Transit back into a position of financial strength over the next few years that can again support future growth.

 

Community Transit is promising tomorrow with responsibility today.