Pierce Transit: Gig Harbor trolley is coming back, but no service for Key Peninsula yet

The Gig Harbor City Council got a briefing last week from Pierce County Transit, which has been staggering from the one-two punch of lost tax revenue and a pandemic-induced drop in ridership.

The good news: Sunday bus service to Gig Harbor will improved, and the downtown trolley will be back this summer, pandemic permitting.

The bad news: There are no immediate plans to bring back bus service to the Key Peninsula, which was among service areas cut after a mid-recession tax levy failed in 2012.

“Unfortunately, it’s easier to get out a service area than to get back in,” Ryan Wheaton, executive director of planning, told the council during the Jan. 25 video meeting. “It’s on our radar,” he said, but it is unlikely to happen in the near future.

Wheaton was accompanied by Kim Roscoe, the mayor of Fife, who is the small-cities representative on the transit board, and Alexandra Mather, the system’s governmental relations director.

Mather said Pierce Transit could try to put together a pilot program for the Key Peninsula under a state or federal grant, but “It’s always risky to run things on a grant or a pilot, because if you lose the money, you have to take it all back again.”

Council Member Jim Franich noted that “there are a lot of disadvantaged people out there, and since that service has been lost, it’s caused a lot of hardship.”

Transit wish list

Also on the Gig Harbor council’s transit wish list: Bus service to St. Anthony Hospital, and extending the 100 line all the way to Tacoma Community College during the day

Mayor Kit Kuhn noted the seemingly comical reason Pierce Transit has declined to serve the hospital: its electric-powered buses can’t get up enough speed to negotiate the roundabout at the hospital entrance.

“Maybe there could be a smaller bus that could get through that roundabout?” the mayor suggested. He added that many low-income residents work at the hospital, and bus service would be helpful for them.

Wheaton said Pierce Transit uses only 40-foot buses, because they can be used interchangeably, but he promised to look into the roundabout problem.

Council Member Robyn Denson brought up the matter of the 100 Route, which stops just short of the Tacoma Community College Gig Harbor campus during the day. That means Gig Harbor High School students taking Running Start classes at TCC-GH have a hard time getting to class on time.

Wheaton said the pandemic has meant the system has had to trim a lot of routes, but it is trying to restore them as fast as it can. He noted the 100 Route has added two additional trips on Sundays, and the evening span now has one more trip in each direction. The Route 102 Gig Harbor-Tacoma Express remains suspended.

Trolley will be back

Since the pandemic began last March, the bus system has lost two-third of its Gig Harbor riders, mostly on commuter routes, Wheaton said. However, demand for local service has dropped only by about half. Pierce Transit has 63 bus stops within the Gig Harbor city limits.

The popular Gig Harbor Trolley, which runs during the high-tourist summer months, will be back this year if the pandemic eases as expected, he added. It was suspended last summer due to the pandemic.

“We fully expect it to be back in service this summer,” he said.

“I am happy to hear that,” said Denson. “My kids, who don’t have driver’s licenses, go all over town on that trolley, and they love it.”

The bright red and yellow trolley connects the downtown waterfront, Harbor Hill and the Uptown shopping center every 30 minutes. An all-day pass costs $1.

In other business, the council:

▪ Heard from Public Works Director Jeff Langhelm that the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant and its crew have won an award for Outstanding Public Service from the State Department of Ecology for the 13th year in a row. Darrell Winans, wastewater division supervisor, presented a slide show to the tune of “Hard Hat and a Hammer.” The award-winning crew are senior operators Jim Landon, Chuck Roy and Norine Alvarado; operators John Ozga and James Wilkinson; maintenance technicians Larry Washburn and Tye Davis, and administrative assistant Nancy Nayer.

▪ Passed a routine ordinance updating the city’s building code to match some changes made in the state code. The changes are minor and mostly involve efficiency standards for heating and cooling equipment.

▪ Learned from Mayor Kuhn that the Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce hopes to bring back the Maritime Festival in the third or fourth week of August.

▪ Learned that City Clerk Molly Towslee intents to retire in June. Bob Larson, the city administrator, called Towsley “among the best city clerks I’ve ever worked with.”

This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 5:30 AM.