2013 Bike to Work Day Wrap-up

Last Friday, Community Transit was out at the Lynnwood Transit Center, McCollum Park Park and Ride and Boeing to celebrate Bike to Work Day!  We had 327 bike riders join us for food, coffee and fun!



Thanks to all the bikers that joined us at one of the Community Transit commute stations.



Oxy Gene stopped by the Lynnwood Transit Center commute station to thank

these bike riders for their commitment to cleaner air.

Community Transit and Boeing staffs were out bright and early Friday morning to greet bikers.

A special thanks to our bike mechanics from Bicycle Centres, Harvy’s Bike Shop and

Gregg’s Cycle that were on hand to help riders with minor repairs and maintenance advice!

Thank you to everyone that made Bike to Work Day in Snohomish County a success this year!

Bike to Work Day – May 17

Friday, May 17, is F5 Bike to Work Day and Community Transit is excited to be partnering again this year with Cascade Bicycle Club to recognize bikers throughout Snohomish County that choose to get out and ride to work on that day.

Stop by one of the many Commuter Stations set up around the region for a snack, have your bike checked out by a professional bike mechanic and to chat with your fellow bike commuters.  Community Transit will be hosting two stations this year:

Lynnwood Transit Center

Location: Interurban Trail at 202nd St SW & 46th Ave W
Time of Operation: 6:00am to 9:00 am

Get a chance to meet Oxy Gene and have your bike checked out by a friendly mechanic from Harvy’s Bike Shop.

McCollum Park Park and Ride

Location: 128th St SE and Dumas Road
Time of Operation: 6:00am to 9:00am

Stop by to learn how you can earn rewards for your bike commute through our Curb The Congestion program and get assistance with your bike from Bicycle Centres.

Or stop by one of the other Commute Stations being held in Snohomish County:

Everett Boeing Station sponsored by Boeing

Location: 75th & Seaway

Time of Operation: 5:00am to 8:30am

Station mechanic courtesy of Gregg's Cycle

Everett Station sponsored by Everett Transit

Location: 3201 Smith Ave (South of Pacific)

Time of Operation: 5:00am to 9:00am

Station mechanic courtesy of Tim's Bike Shop

For more information on all the Bike to Work Day activities happening around the region, visit http://www.cbcef.org/btw/btw_day.html.

Community Transit Bike Lockers Available Now!

As Bike Month gets underway, have you found yourself wanting to ride your bike to work or school but think it’s just too far?  Try combining bicycling with your bus commute to make the trip easier.  Community Transit has 116 bike lockers located at 15 of our Park & Rides.  Renting a bike locker is a secure, weatherproof way to store your bike while you complete your trip by bus, carpool or vanpool.  Our bike locker rentals are available on a first-come, first-served basis at a rental rate of $60 per year plus a conditionally-refundable deposit of $50.

Bike locker at Mountlake Terrace Transit Center

Bike locker locations:Ash Way Park & Ride
Canyon Park Park & Ride
Eastmont Park & Ride
Edmonds Park & Ride
Lake Stevens Transit Center
Lynnwood Transit Center
Mariner Park & Ride
Marysville Ash Ave Park & Ride
Marysville Cedar & Grove Park & Ride
McCollum Park Park & Ride
Monroe Park & Ride
Mountlake Terrace Transit Center
Snohomish Park & Ride
Stanwood Park & Ride
Swamp Creek Park & Ride

With warmer weather approaching, there isn’t a better time to try one!  Feel free to contact our bike locker coordinator at bikelockers@commtrans.org or (425) 348-2332 to inquire about availability.

To learn more about combining your bicycling with your bus commute visit communitytransit.org/bikes/.

Spring Into Gear, Bike Month Is Here

Today marks the first day of national Bike Month and Community Transit is encouraging people to get out there and ride a bike to work, to a transit center or just for fun. Whether it is your first time on a bike or you have a closet full of padded shorts and spandex, there are many benefits you can get from riding a bike. Here are a few good reasons to spring into gear this month and get riding.


"Oxy Gene supports bikes and buses. "Oh yeaahh!"

  

It is cheaper than driving.

According to AAA, the average cost of operating a car in 2012 was 58.5 cents per mile. For many drivers that can add up to thousands of dollars each year. An article in Forbes Magazine in 2012 stated the annual cost of operating a bike was just $308 – accounting for a huge savings over driving each day.

 

For people with longer trips, combining biking with transit is another great way to keep costs down. Check out our cost calculator to see what your savings could be.

It supports a healthy lifestyle.
Biking is one of the best activities for improving your overall health, including:
• Improved cardiovascular health and a decrease in coronary heart diseases
• Increased coordination, balance and flexibility
• Improved muscle tone and strength
• Increased endurance and stamina
• Decreased obesity and weight-related diseases
• Strengthened  immune system

It gets you out of traffic.
Americans spend more than 25 minutes driving to work each day according to the 2010 U.S Census. By avoiding congestion, cycling could help you get there faster and avoid sitting in traffic.

It connects you to transit.
Biking is a great way to connect to local and regional transit near your home or work. Community Transit encourages bus riders to incorporate bikes into their daily commute. Every Community Transit bus is equipped with a two-bike rack in the front. Swift buses have three interior bike racks so riders can quickly roll their bikes right onto the buses. Bus riders can also store their bikes at bike lockers located at park & rides throughout the county. Learn more at www.communitytransit.org/bikes.

It is a free gym on wheels.
By combining your daily workout with your commute or errands, you can save yourself a trip to the gym and free up more time to do other things you enjoy. 

It makes your community better.
There are many benefits to the community when people choose to ride their bikes regularly:
• It reduces congestion on roadways by removing cars
• It removes greenhouse gas emissions
• The more bicycles on the road, the safer it becomes because drivers are more aware of their surroundings
• It encourages local spending and engagement

And the last reason to ride your bike this May and all year long: It’s Fun!

Community Transit is supporting bike activities all month long throughout Snohomish County. To learn more, visit Cascade Bicycle Club’s Bike Month website.

Legislative Update: Waiting for Special Session

The 2013 State Legislature ended its regular session yesterday after passing a transportation budget, but still has to complete work on a biennial operating budget. So, Gov. Jay Inslee has called for a special session to begin on May 13.

It is expected that a new transportation funding package, which includes funding for transit and road projects as well as local options for transit agencies, will be discussed as part of the special session. The most significant part of that package for Community Transit is a provision that would allow the agency to take a ballot measure to local voters seeking new funding. Of course, there is no guarantee that any new transportation legislation will be adopted.

Passage of the regular transportation budget still is good news for Community Transit. A modest amount of direct transit funding that was established in 2012 was funded again. This will bring Community Transit about $800,000 in the next fiscal year.

Also, Community Transit secured two Regional Mobility Grants, one to match federal funding for the purchase of 17 new Double Tall buses and another to begin study and design for efforts to get a park & ride built in Mukilteo.

While the direct funding is welcome, the funding need is much greater. Community Transit cut $23 million of service in 2010-2012 dollars, so it would take at least that much every year to restore the same level of service.

Before the special session starts, Community Transit will continue to ask legislators to support transit funding. This extends to the new House Republican leader Dan Kristiansen, who becomes Snohomish County's highest ranking legislator.

In his remarks calling for a special session, Inslee mentioned transit funding as one of the items he would like the legislature to resolve. Let's hope this next session is truly "special" for transit.

Smart Commuters Walk the "Green" Carpet

By Caryn Walline, TDM & Outreach Specialist

At Community Transit, we work hard to operate by the motto “Earth Day, Every Day.”

Recently, the agency celebrated Snohomish County and Bothell businesses and commuters that walk the talk (sometimes literally!) at our 2012 Smart Commuter Awards Luncheon. The ceremony honored individuals and companies that reduced greenhouse gas emissions and congestion by using greener alternatives to driving alone such as riding transit, vanpooling, carpooling, biking and walking.

This year’s honorees prove that choosing sustainable transportation options not only helps individuals save money and stress, but also makes our community a better place to live and work for everyone.

Employer of the Year – Crane Aerospace & Electronics 
By promoting the Curb the Congestion program, Crane Aerospace was able to encourage their employees to remove 2,117 trips on 164th Street in 2012.

Employee Transportation Coordinator of the Year – David Kemp, Brooks Sports 
In 2012, David Kemp launched the Commute Happy campaign at Brooks Sports in Bothell to motivate his employees to try greener travel options. During the Commute Happy campaign, Brooks’ employees reduced more than 35,000 lbs. of CO-2 and logged more than 3,800 trips using green commute options.

Smart Commuter of the Year – Astrella Norell, Brooks Sports 
Astrella commutes to her job as an Apparel & Product Developer at Brooks Sports by bus most days. She also decided four years ago to live without a car and uses the money she saves on gas, insurance and car loans to travel.

Caryn accepted the Employer of the Year
award from Bob Drewel at the
2011 Smart Commuter Awards when she was
an ETC. Now Caryn facilitates ETC activity
for Community Transit.

The 2012 award recipients were all from businesses throughout Snohomish County and Bothell who support Washington State’s Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) goals. Community Transit receives funding from the state to help these employers reduce single-occupant vehicle trips to their worksites by providing services such as the Smart Commuter Awards, advanced training for Employee Transportation Coordinators (ETCs), a Guaranteed Ride Home program, transportation fairs, and resources on commute alternatives to approximately 24,000 employees at 74 worksites.

As a former ETC at Puget Sound Energy – Bothell, the winner of the 2011 Employer of the Year Smart Commuter Award, I have personally seen the positive affects that the Commute Trip Reduction program has on businesses and employees.

The benefits to the company were being able to provide a desirable benefit to our employees that helped with recruiting and retention, while also meeting Puget Sound Energy’s mission to protect the environment. Employees participating in the Puget Sound Energy CTR program were able to save money on gas, were less stressed and enjoyed living healthier, greener lives.

Commute Trip Reduction can also have major impacts on air quality and congestion throughout our communities. Across the state of Washington, participants in the CTR program reduce more than 71,500 tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year and save commuters more than $22 million in fuel.

Here in Snohomish County, businesses in six out of nine jurisdictions that receive Community Transit’s CTR services reduced drive-alone trips since 2007, resulting in a savings of almost 28 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per employee each day.

Oxy Gene: Earth Day is Every Day for Me!

Greetings Good Citizens of Snohomish County!

Let me take a moment to introduce myself. I am Oxy Gene — Defender of Truth, Justice and Really Clean Air! Every day, I patrol the beautiful skies of Snohomish County (rain or shine) and educate good citizens like you about alternative ways to commute and to help keep the air we breathe, well, really clean!

I am taking a break from my regularly scheduled superhero duties to talk to you about a day that is near and dear to my superhero heart (deep breath) —Earth Day. The first Earth Day started out 43 years ago as a nationwide demonstration for a healthier, sustainable, environment by 20 million Americans (I was just a wee lad in superhero absorbent diapers then, but it made me the man I am today. I know, too much info).

Anyway, this year, more than one billion of your fellow planet dwellers are celebrating Earth Day in events held in communities, college campuses and neighborhoods worldwide. For those good citizens on smart phones and social media, I would suggest you check out the Earth Day Network for a complete history of Earth Day and to learn more about this year’s theme, “The Face of Climate Change.” In fact, they are asking folks to contribute to a global mosaic by uploading pictures of how climate change is personally affecting you.

As a defender of truth, justice and really clean air, Earth Day is every day for me. It’s also “every day” for Community Transit. In addition to providing 36,000 transit ride each weekday, Community Transit has established processes and programs to ensure that their buses, vans, and operations make as little impact on the environment as possible.

Good citizens of Snohomish County, you can be defenders of clean air, too—no cape required! Here are some Community Transit services that can help you reduce your carbon footprint.
• Take a Community Transit bus!
• Ride in a vanpool!
• Participate in the Curb the Congestion program, log your travel online and earn monthly rewards! (Eligibility required)

Thank you for taking the time to learn about Earth Day and considering how you can help make our world a cleaner, healthier place to live. I must take to the skies and resume my patrol, now. I wish you a very Happy Earth Day! And remember, there’s only one thing all of us share. It nourishes, refreshes, please love it . . . . IT’S AIR!

When he’s not flying the friendly skies of Snohomish County, Oxy Gene, can be found at various Community Transit and county events, parades, and festivals to spread the word about the importance of defending clean air. Visit Oxy Gene’s webpage for a listing of upcoming events and to download activity books and coloring pages for future clean air defenders.