Pierce Transit, Sound Transit to reduce bus service this month. Here’s how and why
Sound Transit and Pierce Transit both announced temporary reduced bus service next week because there aren’t enough drivers to staff routes, the agencies said Wednesday.
Too many missed and delayed buses have led Pierce Transit to scale back service beginning Sunday. The move will help bus drivers reach stops on schedule.
“It’s just very important to provide customers with a schedule they can rely on,” said Pierce Transit spokeswoman Rebecca Japhet.
Because Pierce Transit provides drivers for Sound Transit’s ST Express bus service to King County, that agency is forced to cut back its schedule as well. That reduction in service starts Monday.
Pierce Transit normally has 510 bus drivers. Currently, about 12 percent of those positions are empty or in training.
The missing drivers are reflective of the nation’s overall worker shortage, Japhet said. It follows a pandemic-caused service reduction in 2020.
“We made it back to 95 percent of pre-pandemic service,” she said. “This (cutback) represents a 10 percent reduction.”
Japhet said drivers are accruing overtime to cover routes, but the agency is staying within its budget.
Pierce Transit currently has the largest driver recruitment campaign in its history underway. Annual salaries currently top out at $66,000.
“We are doing everything from ads on the side of our buses to social media,” Japhet said.
It takes about 10 weeks to hire and train new drivers.
To show its thanks, Pierce Transit said its passengers can ride the system free Nov. 7-9.
Pierce Transit affected routes
• Route 1 will run every 30 minutes weekdays and on Saturdays.
• Route 2 will run every 30 minutes weekdays.
• Route 16 will run every 60 minutes weekdays.
• Route 11 will run every 60 minutes weekdays except for specific morning and afternoon trips retained for students of Tacoma’s Science and Math Institute (SAMi) to travel to and from school.
• Route 400 will not experience reduced service, but schedules will be adjusted.
• Route 500 will run every 60 minutes weekdays and on Saturdays.
Sound Transit Express affected routes
• Route 566 will operate with reduced frequency. “Reverse peak” trips, which operated southbound in the morning rush hour, and northbound in the afternoon rush hour, are temporarily suspended. There is also a reduction in the number of morning and evening rush-hour trips. Passengers should also consider using KCM Route 160 and ST Express 560.
• Route 577 will operate with reduced frequency during the morning and evening rush hour, operating every 10-15 minutes. Passengers should consider also using KCM Route 177, which also operates between downtown Seattle and Federal Way Transit Center.
• Route 578 will have a minor adjustment in trip times.
• Route 580 will only operate between Puyallup Station and South Hill Park & Ride. The Lakewood to South Hill P&R portion will be temporarily suspended. Pierce Transit Route 400 will replace some Route 580 trips between South Hill P&R, Red Lot, and Puyallup Station. All Sounder trains will continue to have a timed connection at Puyallup Station with either a PT Route 400 or ST Express 580 bus serving Red Lot and South Hill P&R. Passengers should use either route for service between South Hill P&R, Red Lot, and Puyallup Station.
• Route 590 will have a reduction in trips during the morning and evening rush hour periods, operating every 10-15 minutes.
• Route 592 will have a reduction in trips and a change in trip times. Passengers should note that first and last trips have changed slightly.
• Route 594 will have adjustments in trip times on weekdays.
Sound Transit Express routes 556, 577, 578, 580, 590, 592, and 594 will also have reductions in frequencies and schedule adjustments. More information on Sound Transit changes can be found at Soundtransit.org/servicechange.
Pierce Transit uses several tools to keep passengers up to speed on bus arrivals including texting, the Transit smartphone app, reader boards and a call center. A list can be found on their website under “Bus schedule are going digital.”
