Re: Pierce Transit Proposition 1.

Pierce Transit employees do not have “Cadillac insurance.” We have two choices: Group Health and Regence. We have a deductible, co-pays and a monthly premium, just like any other Pierce County resident who has a job that provides health insurance.

The only difference is we have a “high experience rating.” When Pierce Transit goes out yearly to get medical insurance, it is faced with the fact that the employees at Pierce Transit have a high usage of the medical insurance, therefore the rates offered are very high from the insurance brokers.

You cannot believe the …

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Having ridden the inaugural run of the Sounder Lakewood extension, I can say that in my opinion the train is an asset to the region. The traffic removed from freeways, resultant reduction in pollution, and access to transportation for low income and non-driving public from Lakewood all the way to Everett are solid community improvements.

That said, I cannot fathom why such an improvement would be relegated to a truncated commuter-only operation schedule. Not having at least 18-hour, if not full round-the-clock, daily train service to allow for tourist, swing and night shift as well as weekend work, theatergoing, shopping …

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Public transportation has played an integral part in my independent-living situation over the last decade. I am a disabled Tacoma resident who is unable to drive a vehicle, so I have been relying on Pierce Transit’s services. They provide a crucial role in getting me around and helping me to be a productive citizen of Tacoma. As a result of that, I am advocating for Proposition 1.

If the service were cut by 53 percent (which is what will happen if the proposition fails), it would severely impact my ability to be a member of this city’s community, and it …

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I have a 27-year-old son with cerebral palsy who relies on the Pierce Transit shuttle to get back and forth to work three days a week and to activities one day a week. As of Sept. 30, I had to move him to his sister’s house as the shuttle no longer will pick him up at his home.

So many people out past the Walmart on the Mountain Highway rely on the buses to get them where they need to go.

If you really have a heart for the human beings, please vote yes on Proposition 1. It’s only 3 …

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I find it rather odd that we are once again voting for the same thing we voted against. The problem is not that Pierce Transit needs more money. Rather, it is that Pierce Transit has considerable difficulty staying within a budget.

I understand that there is a need for mass transit. However, given the number of overlapping routes and inconsistent timetables, it would seem that Pierce Transit should review its present operations and look where it can make appropriate changes to streamline operations and reduce costs.

One suggestion would be to reduce the number of overlapping routes. Multiple buses on …

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I am a local marketing project manager working with local businesses, and I am concerned about Propostion 1, the Pierce Transit ballot measure.

If voters approve Prop. 1, large purchases, especially auto sales, will be driven out of county where consumers can pay 9 percent sales tax in Olympia, for example. This means that car dealerships need to sell 30 vehicles at the increased tax amount of 10.1 percent to offset losing one car to another county. The county will actual lose money if this passes! And the .3 percent tax increase will give Tacoma the highest sales tax rate …

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The current main talking point about the Pierce Transit tax proposal is that transit is a vital public service. I fully agree, and most common-sense voters don’t need to be overly convinced of that.

Transit personal and management are good people, but what I need to be convinced of is that Pierce Transit is lean, efficient and focused on delivery of services to riders and the public and not simply trying to protect its capital budgets, salaries, benefits and management compensation packages.

From a look at Pierce Transit, its real year-to-year revenues have been trending higher and higher already. Voters …

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Wednesday was snowy and icy, and I decided to take Pierce Transit to get to a 9 a.m. appointment.

A quick check of the Pierce Transit website showed maps of the snow routes, and a call to the hotline (less than a three-minute wait) put me in touch with a cheerful person who told me one route was running half an hour late and another 12 minutes early. My waits at the bus stops, going to and returning from the appointment, totaled about three minutes. It is hard to imagine a taxi being more convenient.

During the ride, one of …

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