Fall Community Design Workshops
You made the Community Design Workshops a Success
- 9 Community Design Workshops, 133 attendees
- 2 Summits, 63 attendees
- 39 Community Leader Interviews
- 54 Community Presentations, 2600 attendees
- 1,700 Website Visitors
- 15 Transit Center Events
- 1,400 Comments Received
- 38,900 Direct Mail Postcards
- 16,500 Brochures Distributed
- Over 8,500 face-to-face interactions!
Pierce Transit can’t be all things to all people and in the months ahead we’ll have to make some tough decisions. Any system redesign choices need to be rooted in our community values. This fall we’ve been out in the community talking to leaders, neighborhood groups, service organizations, schools, social service providers and general citizens. Here’s what we’ve heard:
Social Service
Goal: Serving people who can’t drive because they can’t afford to or have impaired mobility.
Possible future investments: Providing service to a wide array of people to a variety of destinations including jobs, schools, medical centers and social services, and ensuring that the price of transit is affordable for all income levels.
Results: Downtown Tacoma workshop participants rated this as the number one value; at many design workshops, this was the number 2 most important value.
Economic Development
Goal: Fostering job growth in Pierce County, getting people to their jobs, and saving people time and money.
Possible Future Investments: Providing frequent, convenient and direct service that connects population, retail and employment centers, as well as regional connections.
Results: Top-rated value with Leadership Summit, the Planners Summit, and North and West Tacoma Community Design Workshop attendees.
Safety and Security
Goal: Ensuring the safety and security of our riders, operators and service-area communities.
Possible future investments: placing more transit officers on the streets and on our buses, lighting at bus stops and Park & Rides, and closed circuit TV cameras on buses and at facilities, and continuing with outstanding maintenance of our buses and training of our operators.
Results: South Hill, downtown Puyallup, and Lakewood workshops attendees rated this value as number one.
Environment
Goal: Improving air and water quality and reducing CO2 emissions by providing people with good alternatives to driving
Possible Future Investments: Providing convenient and direct bus service in population centers as well as ridesharing options like vanpooling and carpooling.
Results: Many participants thought this was an important issue but no group thought this was the most important priority.
Livable Communities
Goal: Promoting safe, healthy and vibrant communities with our transit investments.
Possible Future Investments: Safe walking and biking routes to transit, transit that supports bike use, retail and housing integrated with transit centers, clean and quiet buses.
Results: Sumner/Bonney Lake Workshop attendees thought this value was the most important.
Geographic Coverage
Goal: Providing service to everyone in our service area.
Possible Future Investments: Rural, suburban and urban communities all getting some service with lower frequency service but still practical.
Results: Parkland/Spanaway, Gig Harbor, and South Tacoma community design workshop attendees thought this was extremely important.
Overall, we heard from you that Social Service and Economic Developments rated as the top values overall and that you want us to keep investing in safety and the environment. The importance of livable communities and geographic coverage varied by community. Thanks for your input! We look forward to getting your input on the designs this spring.
