Better Transit in Pierce County: Tacoma Buses

This post is the third in a series, adapted from an article I wrote for my blog, Transportation Matters, a Pacific Northwest-flavored blog that discusses railway planning, urban planning, and related politics.

The previous post described five proposed improvements to the T line. This article proposes three improvements to the bus system in Tacoma:

• Dramatically Improve the Transfer at Pacific/24th
• Send Regional Buses to Pacific Avenue and/or Downtown Tacoma
• Replace the MCI Vehicles of the ST Express

Dramatically Improve the Transfer at Pacific/24th

A major connection point of the Pierce County subarea transit network needs to be recognized, honored with improvements, and be served by all regional express bus lines: Pacific Avenue at 24th Street. Please note that 24th Street becomes Puyallup Avenue and that they are one-in-the-same.

As Pierce Transit's Existing and Future Conditions Report for Pacific Avenue BRT showed, many local transit riders connect to regional services. However, what appears lost in the report and in current planning is that the main point-of-connection is not Tacoma Dome Station. In the real world, it is Pacific/24th. This is concerning as the claimed abundance of connections at Tacoma Dome is being used as rationale to divert and truncate buses there.

A large volume of transit riders, particularly those originating from points south of 24th Street and to the east, as well as along SR-7 and from within broader Pierce County, travel here to make their regional connection-not the Dome. In fact, very little of the County's transit actually goes to Tacoma Dome Station. Just 5 of Pierce Transit's 31 bus routes serve the stop or its general area, and zero of those are the trunk routes that form the backbone of the County transit system. About 8 in 10 people who use the station drive alone to it, fulfilling its mandate as a vast, free park-and-ride. It is not, as is now so freely asserted, some great urban transit center. While Sounder commuter trains and Amtrak do serve the Dome, they do so only because the City enthusiastically okayed the destruction of Union Station's platforms for I-705, not for any other compelling purpose (read more about the Tacoma Dome Park and Ride). Additionally, Sounder trains operate only during peak-hours and do not constitute anywhere near the majority of transit trips out of Tacoma Dome. Amtrak has a far smaller ridership presence than even that.

Most regional buses travel along Puyallup Avenue and then turn north on Pacific Avenue to go into the city center, including the 59X-series ST Expresses and Pierce Transit buses from Puyallup and Federal Way. At 24th Street, regional transit has its first interconnection with the dominant local transit axis that is Pacific Avenue, just as it has for much of Tacoma's history. Tacoma Dome Station is completely irrelevant to this larger dynamic.

For many, Pacific/24th is the essential regional transfer stop, imparting onto it a role in the transit system that is shared by Union Station and Commerce Street. You would not know this if you visited the area, which suffers from a lack of investment in the right-of-way. Meaningful capital improvements should be made to the area: new and expanded shelters, massively improved lighting, repaired and widened sidewalks, higher curbs for near-level boarding, real-time arrival signage, and other quality features that reflect its importance. Along with the Puyallup Avenue Complete Streets project, this should become a beautiful area that emphasizes and prioritizes alternative modes of transportation. An example of a quality transfer station can be found at the Monroe & Louis stop of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

A partial view of the Pacific Avenue/24th Street connection area showing very poor transit facilities. Stops like this generate uncertainty and resentment and do little to promote transit use.

It is important to note that transit riders do use Sounder and Amtrak. They deserve quality transit to Tacoma Dome Station to access those services. However, they have access in the form of the T Line and several bus lines. Many could walk or bike. This is a reasonable trade-off given the geography of the city, the layout of transit system, and the nature of the connecting services. Ultimately, choices have to be made related to the design of our transit system. We should emphasize the transit nexus of Downtown Tacoma where possible and when appropriate, and impose transfers on those who choose to leave by way of heavy rail. Bus lines should not be deviated or truncated to serve the Dome at the expense of Downtown. This should be City policy. Instead, upgrade and prioritize the connection at 24th/Pacific.

Send Regional Buses to Pacific Avenue and/or Downtown Tacoma

Along with physical improvements to Pacific/24th, regional transit should be required to serve it. Preferably, buses would then continue to Downtown Tacoma and Commerce Street, but service to Pacific/24th is the minimum expectation. This provides for easy local connections on Pacific Avenue, which is the dominant north-south transit axis of Pierce County. Transit route deviations to Tacoma Dome Station are unnecessary and inappropriate as an alternative, as are bus truncations there. Should transit that is claimed to serve Tacoma not even reach Pacific Avenue, then it is not properly serving the city.

For transit riders, Pacific Ave / 24th is either the first or last available connection point to regional services-not Tacoma Dome. All transit that serves Tacoma should reach Pacific Avenue, shown in blue, as it is the north-south transit axis of the city and Pierce County. Ideally, regional transit would then go on to serve Tacoma's city center and the many connections found there, as seen in red.

Today, many ST Express services serve Pacific/24th and continue to Downtown Tacoma. The same is true for all Pierce Transit bus lines from the east (Puyallup, Federal Way, etc.). This should remain the case until that time when Tacoma Link is integrated with Central Link, at which point the bus network would be substantially reconfigured. The Pierce County Integrated Transit Plan previews one such possible network reorganization. For those bus lines that do not serve Downtown, however, their service and schedule should be revised to pick-up the Pacific/24th connection, at least.

For Sound Transit's 586 line, from Tacoma to the University of Washington, its service should begin at Commerce Street as it did years prior. In light of recent service reductions to the 590, however, this run should simply be cancelled outright. Its precious service hours should be reallocated to the 590.

For Sound Transit's 574 line, from Lakewood Transit Center to Sea-Tac Airport, a small and meaningful route change is sought. Using northbound trips (toward the airport) as the example, after exiting the freeway in Tacoma the buses should turn left on 26th Street, then right on Pacific Avenue, then right again on 24th Street toward Tacoma Dome Station. This would add a negligible amount of daily service hours while picking up the connection at Pacific/24th. It would eliminate the railroad grade crossing of the current alignment at 25th Street, and maintain a limited footprint in Tacoma. It would decisively integrate the 574 into the local transit system and allow many riders to avoid yet another transfer-this time to Tacoma Dome-to access the popular service.

The 574 ST Express to Sea-Tac Airport should be rerouted, as seen in blue, to pick up the major transfer point at Pacific Avenue / 24th Street. This better ties the bus line into Tacoma's transit network, reducing transfers.Replace the MCI Vehicles of the ST Express

Good transit makes riding and transferring easy. This quality-ease-is essential, particularly if we are to serve riders who have children, mobility impairments, are carrying groceries or luggage, or are experiencing any variety of conditions or situations that call for extra care. Transit can be good and convenient. Where this is the case we find cities and societies that are better places for everyone.

Sound Transit's MCI buses are an enemy of this vision. These buses are not good transit. They are poor transit personified by a single vehicle, which is somehow used extensively on Pierce County routes. Not only should their use here end, but the vehicles should be sold and replaced at once.

Sound Transit's MCI buses are unacceptable for transit purposes and must be replaced.

While the seats of the bus are comfortable, getting to that seat is frequently a nightmare. Even able-bodied individuals have to fight to ride it, given its multiple steps, sharp turns, and distressing narrow aisles. Once in the seat, the sense of a Pyrrhic victory washes over you. Unlike buses that are actually suited for the purpose of mass transit, there is only one means of egress, forcing many to struggle along its full length to reach an open seat. As the floor is perched well above sidewalk level, ADA access is disturbingly convoluted. Should an individual need mechanical assistance to get inside, interior seats need to have their occupants relocated before being shuffled about, and then a power lift deployed. This totally avoidable procession delays the trip by several minutes. Worse, it creates a potentially embarrassing situation for the passenger at no fault of their own, but who must still bear the burden of a failed transit operation. If more than one person needs a lift, riders will sit idle for an unknowable and untenable duration.

Confoundingly, the MCI coaches are often used on the 574 ST Express run to Sea-Tac Airport. As poor souls heave their suitcases upstairs and bang them on the vehicle's protruding edges, a shockingly poor rider experience is had on what should be a marquee busline. About $5 billion is being spent to extend light rail from Federal Way to Tacoma Dome, ostensibly to connect Tacoma" to the airport by frequent transit. This has long been a defining subarea transportation dream. For such an important trip pair-as is so often claimed-you would think a fraction of that money could be put toward proper transit vehicles on the 574. Yet, the MCI buses have persisted over the decades like an incurable infection.

Sound Transit has equipment that works. On merciful occasions, it will even use them in Pierce County. More of that, please, and no more of the MCI!

Up next: Pierce Transit