The student news site of Mountlake Terrace High School in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

The Hawkeye

The student news site of Mountlake Terrace High School in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

The Hawkeye

The student news site of Mountlake Terrace High School in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

The Hawkeye

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The need to know about the Community Transit changes

As of Feb. 20, Community Transit will reduce 20 percent of its bus service due to the result of the recession and the slow recovery of the economy.

This is the second major service cut in less than three years. These cuts are necessary to bring current expenses below revenues so the agency can continue serving Snohomish County well into the future. Of the 1600 bus stops that Community Transit serves, half of them will be altered. The employees are currently making changes at bus stops to have the correct information to people before the service changes. Current services will continue at all existing stops through Feb. 18.

There will be nearly 50 new bus stops.  Nine bus routes will be cancelled, but two new ones will be added. The two new routes are the 196th that will serve from Edmonds Station to Alderwood, and the 220th that will go from Arlington to Smokey Point. Many routes will change times and locations. To save money, Community Transit is focusing more of its local service during peak hours, which will be during morning and afternoon when demand is at its highest. Fewer buses will now be served between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays. Services will end between 10-11 p.m., which means there would be no late-night services.  On Saturdays, Swift will serve every 20 minutes, while hourly services will be made on some local routes.

New bus plus schedules will be on buses in early February. The Route 112 in front of the school is one of the ways students can get here from home. Senior Deborah Nguyen said, “I walk to school, so I don’t really take the bus that much, but it sucks for some students because they have to walk longer distance now. They also have to get use with the new time schedule, which is not very easy because they’ve been used in the current schedule for years.”

The bus will not go from Edmonds Community College anymore, so running start students will have to take another bus, route 119, to get to the college from school or vice versa.

Senior Kimberly Anne Pineda said, “Since I ride the bus to attend classes in Edmonds Community College, the changes in the bus routes would greatly affect my schedule as a running start student. I would have to invest more time travelling from high school to college instead of catching up with school works and other affiliations.”

The route will now then be serving Mountlake Terrace Transit Center. From the transit center, it will go through 236th St., and turn a left at 44th Ave. which is part of the current route. It will then pass by MTHS. This time, it’s not going to stop at Lynnwood Transit center, which affects a lot of students who live nearby it.

Freshman Rashel Rafat said, “I didn’t even know there will be changes, but it sucks because I live right in front of the transit center, so now I would have to walk longer to get to my stop.”

Instead, it will go straight at 44th Ave. It is now also going to have a service at Swamp Creek Park & Ride, and the route will end at Ash Way Park & Ride.  Route 113 will now connect with 112 there, instead of Lynnwood. This route will go to Swamp Creek Park & Ride again, and leads its way to Mukilteo Ferry Terminal. The bus will no longer pass the Mountlake Terrace Library, Swedish Hospital, Edmonds-Woodway H.S., and College Place Middle School.  For more information, go to www.communitytransit.org/schedules.

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