Pierce Transit is updating the agency’s Destination 2040 Long Range Plan for enhancing or expanding local bus service in Pierce County over the next two decades.

Pierce County is expecting to welcome 364,000 more people by 2050, and a robust transit system will play a key role in ensuring people can move freely around the county and region. To ensure Pierce Transit is ready to serve its growing community and that the agency’s Long Range Plan reflects the community’s priorities, the transit agency is asking the people of Pierce County to weigh in with their vision for the future of local bus service and other mobility options.

Pierce Transit is hosting three Long Range Plan open houses where attendees can review a scenario for future growth and voice their opinion:

Wednesday, January 22 • 4:30 – 7:30 pm
Puyallup Public Library Board Room
324 S. Meridian, Puyallup
Served by Routes 402, 409, 425

Tuesday, January 28 • 5 – 8 pm
Pierce Transit Training Center, Rainier Conference Room
3720 – 96th Street SW, Lakewood
Served by Routes 3, 4, 48

Thursday, January 30 • 4 – 7 pm
UW-Tacoma Campus, William W. Phillip Hall – Room WPH 101A, Tacoma
Served by Routes 1, 41, 42, 400, 500, 501, Sound Transit Routes 590, 594

Transit riders and community members unable to attend an in-person open house are invited to visit PierceTransit.org/Destination-2040, where they can offer feedback and ideas, such as new or expanded routes, more frequent trips, earlier/later service, more weekend service, capital improvements, and whatever else people think would improve their local transit system. They’ll also find an interactive map where they can offer feedback by exact location and comment on other people’s ideas.

Pierce Transit adopted its inaugural Destination 2040 Long Range Plan in 2016 following an intensive public outreach process. Since that time many things have changed that will impact the future of local bus service in Pierce County, including: 

• Planning for the South Sound’s first Bus Rapid Transit line between downtown Tacoma and Spanaway; 
• Discussions about future Bus Rapid Transit lines in various parts of the county;  
• The planned arrival of Sound Transit’s Tacoma Dome Link Extension from the north in 2030, which will change some of Pierce Transit’s routing as the agency connects riders to that service; and
• New levels of density and infill development planned for the City of Tacoma and in Pierce County’s centers and corridors that will support more robust levels of transit service.
  

Pierce Transit will take these and other anticipated changes into account, as well as Long Range Plan feedback received from the public, and craft an updated vision for the future of local transit in Pierce County.

The Pierce Transit Board of Commissioners is expected to adopt the agency’s updated Long Range Plan in Spring 2020.