Want to save Pierce County bus service? Buy a brownie.
That’s the tongue-in-cheek message of the Transportation Choices Coalition and the Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club, which will sponsor a bake sale Tuesday morning to call attention to what it calls a lack of state funding for mass transit.
Inspired by news that Pierce Transit is mulling extensive service cuts in 2012 unless it can find new revenue, the organizations will sell cupcakes, brownies, muffins and cookies for $1 each from 7 to 9 a.m. at Frost Park at 9th and Commerce in downtown Tacoma. They’re also giving out free coffee.
Transportation Choices Coalition spokesman Andrew Austin said the event is intended to draw attention to the funding challenges faced by local transit systems.
Under state law transit agencies can seek voter approval for a sales tax of up to .9 percent to pay for local transit service. Transportation Choices Coalition spokesman Andrew Austin said the group has been lobbying the Legislature for more funding options.
A bill that would have temporarily allowed transit agencies to impose a $20 vehicle licensing fee and sought a long-term transit study died in the House of Representatives.
Pierce Transit officials told The News Tribune’s editorial board last week that the economic recession has taken a big toll on the agency’s sales tax revenue. So it must either ask voters to raise the sales tax rate or cut service in much of Pierce County.
Thus the bake sale.
Austin said the coalition expects to raise less than $100 from Tuesday’s sale.
“I don’t think it will be enough to solve (Pierce Transit’s) problems,” he admitted.
Rather than give the money to Pierce Transit, Austin said the group will donate it to a social service group that provides bus passes to needy people.