The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 3

The News Tribune Tacoma Sun June 1 1980 A-3 Proposed transit routes with timed transfer centers ft altered 16 more have been added in the plan The route system revolves around eight timed transfer centers located in strategic spots throughout the county Buses will arrive at those centers simultaneously allowing riders to transfer from one to another without waiting The system probably have those centers built and operational for at least two years The system has applied fa a grant to decide the specific locations for the those centers After that land must be acquired and the centers built Until then said Kosai the system will attempt to find street-side meeting places fa the buses Final hearings on the route structure will be held June 9 and 23 The first of the expanded service will probably begin in July with service between cities Local service will be added in several phases beginning in September and continuing through next March Several additional cities and areas Gig Harbor Dupont Buckley Oakbrook Bon-ney Lake South Prairie and others have expressed interest in Joining the system Voters could decide on that issue this November The earliest that service could reach new areas however might be July 1981 said Kosai New service would require more new buses he said Those buses require at least an 18-month order period The system has not provided interim service to some suburban areas because it has been unable to reach an operating agreement with the operator of the present private lines that serve those areas The operator has charged that the authority has not been negotiating in good faith The authority says he wants too much money The authority will eventually acquire sane of his routes OOd bos system transfers to the future The new PTBA faces some formidable tasks as it moves along part by a 3 cent sales tax approved by the voters in November seems to have solved its cash flow problems It negotiated a 1650000 loan with the dty to tide it over until revenues began coming in because there was no room at the garage Final plans are being reviewed for an addition to the bus parking area to the north of the headquarters building That headquarters building is crammed to the rafters with new staff members own office for instance is occupied by himself a secretary and a large conference table The electrical supply to the building is inadequate to handle the number of electric typewriters and copying machines brought by the new staffing The authority is debating whether to rip out the internal walls in the building to allow a more open office putting part of the staff in another building or simply it said Kosai The administrative office staff has been enlarged from its original 15 but has not yet reached its projected size of 28 One danger that concerns some staffers is that the expansion will destroy what has been the close almost familylike operation of the transit system a system by most accounts that operated more on the basis of personal trust than on any elaborately written procedures Perhaps the greatest task facing the PTBA however has been planning the expansion of its route system That system will eventually cover not only Tacoma but also Puyallup Milton Fife Lakewood Spanaway Tillicum and Fort Lewis The system has held 16 hearings to determine where routes should be placed and scheduled The new routes will provide not only wider but more frequent service Not only have the present 20 routes been Acquiring sites for and building at least eight transfer centers and several park-and-ride lots Hiring and training qualified mechanics and drivers for its expanded fleet Finding sufficient operating money to keep the doors open until fares grants and tax receipts began to flow into the system's coffers Negotiating a labor contract with a union nervous but expectant about the changes In the five months since Tacoma Transit became the county transit system much has been done said Yoshio Kosai the transit director Much still needs to be accomplished The transit system is now operating under an agreement with the City of Tacoma that allowed the PTBA to take over the dty system lock stock and buses The system is still negotiating however over the eventual price it will pay the city for the system City and transit negotiators have agreed to hire an appraiser to put a value on the transit system's property and rolling stock Much needs to be settled on Just how much is a fair price The issue is complicated because the system was paid for by many sources: the federal government the dty from its general fund the dty voters through a household tax and a bond issue and the state through the motor vehicle excise tax An additional complicating factor is that three of the PTBA board members are also Tacoma City Council members putting them on both sides of the bargaining table The negotiations are amicable but hard issues remain to be resolved The system which will be supported in By JOHN G1LUE hough the public hat seen little visi-1 ble evidence yet the Pierce County Public Transit Benefit Area Authority the bus system that formerly was Tacoma Transit is undergoing a dramatic and unsettling metamorphosis If that metamorphosis proves successful it will give much of Pierce County one of the most responsive innovative bus transit systems in the country the dramatic part The unsettling part is that such a metamorphosis requires seemingly incompatible elements: careful but quick planning rapid but controlled growth and prudent but extensive spending When the Tacoma Transit System was officially transformed inton into the PTBA on Jan 1 the transit officialdom faced some formidable tasks: Increasing the fleet of buses by nearly 50 percent Almost doubling the transit staff and budget Cutting the apron strings that tied the bus system to the city and setting up its own personnel accounting purchasing and legal departments Negotiating for the purchase of the former city bus system as well as several suburban bus lino Setting up procedures for controlling the transit system and allowing public input into the process for making decisions about the system Deciding how and when to serve the suburban areas added to the me Tacoma bus system Setting up schedules and that will allow the bus system to use its innovative timed transfer concept Kosai like most government officials is apprenhensive about what effect the recession may have on sales and motor vehicle excise tax receipts that are the bread and butter Federal funds once more plentiful have diminished as Congress cut back in attempt to balance the federal budget things are still very said The system will be selling its first bond $7 million on June 9 That 97 million is to cover the local share for capital expenditures in the first five years With federal funding total capital funding could amount to as much as 50 million in those first years On the transit shopping list immediately are seven more buses with 48 buses to follow The system will need 145 buses on the road Just to cover its presently planned route system The system now has 170 buses Twenty-four of those buses are 32-year-old Twin Coaches long past their prime of life and probably only reliable for use two to three hours a day Other buses must be held in reserve for breakdowns and for maintenance work The system has acquired 33 new buses and 22 used buses The acquisition has necessitated the addition of a swing shift at the garage and has cramped parking space at the transit Sprague Avenue headquarters Some of the fleet has been moved to the Tideflats few storage i.