In 1979, the Pierce County Public Transportation Benefit Area Corporation was created pursuant to chapter 36.57A of the Revised Code of Washington. This resulted in a ballot measure proposing a 0.3 percent sales tax to fund public transportation. Voters approved the measure, and the municipal corporation known as "Pierce Transit" was formed.
In 2002, voters approved an additional 0.3 percent sales tax to replace revenue lost when Initiative 695 cut off the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax as a source of funding for public transportation.
At present, Pierce Transit is the second largest transit agency in Washington State. Map of service area (pdf).
Mission
Pierce Transit connects communities with safe, reliable, customer-friendly transit options.
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A nine-member Board of Commissioners oversees the Agency. The Board is comprised of elected officials representing Pierce County, the cities
of Tacoma, Lakewood, and University Place/Puyallup (a rotating
appointment), and the smaller towns and cities of Pierce Transit's service
area.
The Chief Executive Officer is responsible for implementation of the
policies legislated by the Board of Commissioners. In order to provide
overall management for the Authority, five departments employing a total of about 1000 people have been established:
Executive Office, Transportation Services, Transit Development, Finance & Administration and
Human Resources & Technology.
Employees by Department:
- 698 Transit Operations employees
- 158 vehicle and facilities maintenance employees
- 152 management and support staff
30% of employees are minorities, 39% are female.
Services
Pierce Transit serves as a vital link in our regional transportation system by connecting with:
Pierce Transit provides 52 local bus routes, 11 Sound Transit routes, SHUTTLE (specialized transportation for people with
disabilities), vanpool, ridematching and intercounty express service to Seattle, Sea-Tac Airport and Olympia
provided in cooperation with Sound
Transit and Intercity Transit.
Pierce Transit's fixed-route system serves a 414 square mile area with an estimated population of
767,000 that includes the cities and towns
of Auburn, Bonney Lake, Buckley, DuPont, Fife, Edgewood, Fircrest, Gig Harbor,
Lakewood, Milton, Orting, Puyallup, Ruston, Steilacoom, Sumner, Tacoma
and University Place, along with extensive unincorporated areas of Pierce
County. Our routes operate on more
than 900 miles of city streets, county roads and state highways from
Seattle through Tacoma and on to Olympia.
Our fleet includes 272 buses (77 owned by Sound Transit), all wheelchair accessible, and nearly all of which run on compressed natural gas.
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Transit Centers and Stations, over 3,300 bus stops (456 with flashing lights to increase visibility), 626 covered bus shelters (59 with solar-lighting)
and 28 park-and-ride lots are provided for our patrons.
Pierce Transit operates public vanpools, providing service for commuters traveling throughout the Puget Sound region, especially those not well served by fixed route buses or traveling long distances.
Our demand-response service, SHUTTLE, provides
transportation for people certified eligible for the service because
they are functionally unable to ride a fixed-route bus. To best serve
disabled riders and maximize SHUTTLE efficiency, rides are organized
on a subscription, group or call-in basis.
Pierce Transit carried nearly 19 million passengers in 2008.
Bus (includes Sound Transit routes operated by Pierce Transit)
- 17.4 million boardings
- 57,689 rides per average weekday
- 13.5 million service miles per year
Vanpool and Rideshare
- 851,991 vanpool trips
- Partnerships with 130 Pierce County employers; supports 72 Flex Pass accounts
- 14,000 customers in the regional ridematch database
SHUTTLE
- 451,686 trips
- 7,968 eligible users
Sound Transit Routes operated by Pierce Transit
- 2.4 million boardings
- 8,812 rides per average weekday
- 4.8 million service miles per year
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