Mayor Dave Enslow continues to look for ideas from you for providing shuttle service to the disabled and elderly in the wake of Sumner being outside the Pierce Transit district.  Ideas can be sent to him at denslow@ci.sumner.wa.us or mailed to City of Sumner, attn. Transit Ideas, 1104 Maple Street, Suite 200, Sumner WA 98390.  There are no bad ideas!

As of May 8, Sumner is officially outside the Pierce Transit service district.  Before leaving the district, Sumner service had been cut back already by the Pierce Transit board of directors.  The 496 shuttle to Bonney Lake was scheduled to be eliminated in June 2012 and the 408 had already been eliminated in October 2011.  The 409 bus was cut back to only go into Sumner's Sounder Station and not through town.  The SHUTTLE service provides trips to the disabled but only serves those within ¾ mile of regular bus service, which meant that it was no longer offered to residents of eastern and northern Sumner.  Pierce Transit's Sumner Service Summary indicated that the SHUTTLE service provided 3,452 trips per year, and Sumner businesses collected $1,965,866 in sales tax each year for Pierce Transit.  Mayor Enslow had been elected by the Sumner City Council to represent the city at the Public Transportation Improvement Conference, whose only purpose was to consider Pierce Transit's service boundaries.  He was hoping to talk about the problem with these extreme service cuts, but Pierce Transit wouldn't let discuss it and confined the conversation only to whether Sumner was in with such little service or out.  The mayor chose out so that Sumner could pursue transportation options that really work. 

Following these cuts, Mayor Enslow and Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy proposed that Sound Transit, an organization completely separate from Pierce Transit, take over the eliminated 496 route between Sumner and Bonney Lake.  The Sound Transit board approved this proposal, and the new Sound Transit 596 will continue to connect the two cities at commute times starting on June 11.  Sound Transit could not have made such a move if Sumner had remained within the Pierce Transit district. 

The Mayor continues to seek solutions for the loss of Pierce Transit's SHUTTLE service.  He believes there has to be a different solution than paying $2 million in taxes to Pierce Transit for 3,400 trips, which meant that each trip cost Sumner citizens and businesses $579.  

At the Community Summit on March 15, citizens started thinking about their transit needs and how the communities could provide for those needs in a more efficient way.  It's a start, but the Mayor could use more ideas.  The revenue collected in Sumner came from 6/10 cent sales tax designated just for Pierce Transit.  By being outside the Pierce Transit boundary, Sumner's sales tax rate is lowered by that amount.  It could not be transferred to any other organization, including the City of Sumner, for alternate transportation providers.  Sound Transit will fund the new 596 route.