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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 3, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 3, 2020
 
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Ridership still down for Mason Transit Authority Kiri-(“Boxleitner kbox/eitner@masoncounty. com Although the Mason Transit Au- thority (MTA) Board of Directors was able to pass a Transit Development Plan Aug. 18, MTA General Manag- er Danette Brannin emphasized it’s a planning document rather than a crystal ball into the future, which is especially important when two signif- icant factors in its planning remain nebulous. One factor is Initiative 976, which passed by 53% of voters statewide on Nov. 5, 2019. The measure caps taxes on certain cars at $30 and puts an end to transportation benefit districts and other local vehicle taxes. The governments of Seattle and King County, along with other groups across the state, announced plans to oppose the initiative through legal action, and a judge in the King Coun- ty Superior Court issued a temporary injunction in November. The case is pending. “Those car tab monies are still be— ing collected in the meantime,” Bran- nin said, “but until that case is re- solved, those funds are being put in escrow and are not available to fund state grants for transit that we would otherwise factor into our budgets.” Because the MTA’s transit devel- opment plan is written “conserva- tively,” in Branin’s words, it shows the difference between the MTA’s revenues and expenses going into negative numbers by 2023, if nothing changes. Brannin noted the MTA is antici- pating additional federal funds could 7 make up the shortfall, but if not, she made clear the MTA would need to cut some combination of staff and services. Brannin explained the MTA needs to budget both cautiously and well in advance, in no small part to keep its fleet of buses as current and in as good a state of repair as possible. Another factor affecting the MTA is the ideal balance of service levels it should provide during the COVID-19 NONPROFIT BRIEFS Bikers for Babies raises money for Mason General Motorcycle riders are welcome to join the inaugural Bikers for Babies fundraiser for the Mason General Foundation, staged on Sept. 19 with the Indian Motorcycle Riders Group of Bremerton, Indian Motorcycle of Bremerton and Brothers Powersports. The route starts and ends at Bremerton Motorsports Park and winds through Mason County. The procession will pass by Mason Gen~ eral Hospital. Social distancing and face masks are required. The event raises money for the Birth Center and Labor and Delivery Unit at Mason General Hospital in Shel ton to buy a fetal heartbeat te— lemetry unit. A virtual drive-along will be streamed live on social media and will be available to View later on Mason- WebTV and on the Brothers Powers- ports’ website. The registration fee is $20 per per- pandemic. “We’re currently providing 60% of our pre-COVID service levels on the road,” Brannin said, “but we’ve lost 80% of our riders overall. Prior to CO- VID-19, we had just experienced an 8% growth in ridership.” The transit development plan points out the MTA was running re- duced service at the time of its pub— lication, due to the coronavirus, with Mondays through Fridays as its days of operations, and limited emergency dial—a—rides on Saturday, but begin- ning Aug. 22, the MTA resumed some additional service Saturday. “We’re not going back to our full service levels just yet,” Brannin said, “but we still don’t know how much service we should go back to._There’s social distancing within the buses to consider, and we do not want to run empty buses just to run them. The demand needs to be there.” Meanwhile, the MTA continues to work toward constructing new and updating existing park-and-ride fa- cilities, a process that began in 2016, and which Brannin still sees as hav- ing value, even during a time of re- duced ridership. The retrofitting and improvement of Mason County’s park-and-ride lots has been funded through the state’s Regional Mobility Grant Program and the Connecting Washington Transit Project List, which has also funded the construction of one new park—and—ride facility in north Mason County, and another within Shelton, which Brannin expects to see com- pled by early 2022. This already furnished funding amounts to nearly $10 million, and includes local matching funds from the MTA. The July 21-Aug. 13 public com- ment period for the Transit Develop- ment Plan included two public hear— ings, on July 29 and Aug. 6, following notices posted on the MTA website on July 17, and the Shelton-Mason County Journal on July 23. Brannin said it drew no public comments. son, or $30 per couple, with two riders on one bike. To register for Bikers for Babies, call the Mason General Hospital Foundation at 360-427—3623 or online at www.masongeneral.com/commu- nity/events/bikers—for-babies. Republican women host write-in candidate Republican Sharon Hanek, a Pierce County resident who is campaigning as a write-in candidate for lieuten- ant governor and 10th Congressional District representative, will speak at a luncheon meeting of the Mason County Republican Women at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 11 in the open-air patio at the Taylor Station restaurant off Lynch Road south of Shelton. Everyone is welcome. Face masks are required. Seating is limited, so make a reservation by calling 360- 426-1782 or 360-280-4948. 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