Everett
Public figures from around the Puget Sound region convened in Everett on Thursday to commemorate a half-century of mass transit operations within Snohomish County.
Representatives Rick Larsen and Suzan DelBene, along with various state and municipal leaders, delivered remarks at a gathering marking the agency’s 50th anniversary at its south Everett facility. The commemorative event also showcased a restored 1959 bus on display.
The organization was established in October 1976 following a voter initiative to form the Snohomish County Public Transportation Benefit Area Corporation. While the agency solicited public suggestions for a name, entries included Snohomish Little Urban Goers (SLUG), Fast Omnibus to Necessary Zones (FONZ), and Snohomish County Area Transit (SCAT), the governing board ultimately selected Community Transit following consultation with an outside advisor.
Agency records indicate it became the first organization in the United States to deploy low-floor articulated vehicles, often referred to as bendy buses, and the first in Washington to place double-decker buses into regular service. It subsequently launched the state’s initial bus rapid transit corridor, the Swift Blue Line, in 2009.
Having begun with limited neighborhood routes, the organization currently facilitates over 9.5 million trips annually. It employs more than 1,200 staff members, ranging from drivers and dispatchers to maintenance personnel and administrative workers.
"We started as a really small, ragtag outfit trying to serve a far-flung county, and as the county has grown up, we've grown up with it," said Ilgenfritz prior to Thursday's festivities. "Now we're the third largest transit agency in the state."
The agency's board also recognized the milestone during its scheduled meeting on Thursday. Kyoko Matsumoto Wright, vice chair of Community Transit's board and a Mountlake Terrace City Council member, told the board that upon relocating to the Lynnwood area in the early 1960s, she was surprised to find no public bus system operating on neighborhood streets.
"It's amazing that it's only been 50 years," Matsumoto Wright said.
"We've made it this far, and hopefully we're going to get even better."
Ilgenfritz stated his objective is to enhance connectivity in local neighborhoods across Snohomish County during the next 50 years as light rail expands further north.
"Regional investment in rail transit should translate to better local transit," Ilgenfritz said. "That's what we've seen with the Lynnwood opening, and we want to try and duplicate that for Everett, south Everett and all the communities to the east and north."