Friday Roundtable: Community Transit’s History

Community Transit logos, 1974-2025. (Community Transit via HistoryLink.org)

An excellent new essay on HistoryLink explains the history of Community Transit (CT), the public transit authority of Snohomish County. The essay divides CT's history into seven chapters:

• The 1970s:Transit Makeover covers the formation of the Snohomish County Public Transportation Benefit Area Corporation (SCPTBA) in 1976;
• Hello, Community Transit explains how CT got its name in 1979 and early expansions;
• New Directions discusses decisions made in the 1980s;
• The 1990s: Out With the Old includes a dramatic story involving a federal grand jury and highlights CT's rollout of the nation's first articulated buses;
• Into the 2000s documents difficulties and victories at the turn of the millenium;
• The 2010s: Recession and Expansion covers CT's response to and rebound from the Great Recession of 2008
• The 2020s: COVID and Recovery brings us to today.

After the jump is a recent episode of CT's ongoing series That Transit Show" highlighting CT's maintenance workers and facilities.

Senior Director of Maintenance Mike Swehla gives a two-minute tour of CT's recently-remodeled maintenance shop in Everett. (Community Transit)

This is an Open Thread.