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Photo courtesy CT

Community Transit will further reduce bus trips on Monday, April 13 to align with current ridership levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency’s new reduced service schedule will represent a total reduction of approximately 30% over regular bus service levels.

“Transit remains essential for many in our community who are working critical front line jobs,” said Community Transit CEO Emmett Heath. “During this crisis, a number of bus trips are seeing little or no ridership at certain times of the day, so we are temporarily canceling some of those trips to operate more efficiently and focus on routes that riders are using for essential travel.”

Last week Community Transit’s total boardings were down 71% when compared to February 2020.

Service Reduction

Key features of the plan include:

· All trips on Route 247 (Stanwood to Boeing) will be canceled due to several days of no ridership.
· The following routes will reduce to one trip in each direction due to very low ridership: Routes 107, 227, 412, 435 & 821.
· Commuter service to downtown Seattle (Community Transit 400-series routes and all ST routes) will remain at current levels, except for Routes 412 and 435 mentioned above.
· Commuter service to the University of Washington (Community Transit 800-series routes) will have substantial trip cuts due to low ridership.
· Across routes, the span of service hours and frequency of trips will be reduced. There will be longer gaps between trips but the reduced service schedule should cut down on the number of unplanned daily canceled trips related to staffing levels.
· Buses remain on regular schedule Saturday & Sunday.
· In accordance with the Governor’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy emergency order, transit should be used for essential trips only.
· Passengers should board and exit Community Transit buses through the rear doors only. The front door will remain accessible for ADA customers only. The front 10 feet of all buses will be available for bus drivers and ADA customers only.
· Community Transit has suspended the collection of fares through April 30.

Further details of the service reduction will be released later this week as agency planning staff complete their work. A complete listing of all trips that are not running will be updated at www.communitytransit.org/reducedservice by Friday, April 10.

The City of Everett has announced further cancellations of community events as social distancing remains the best defense against the Coronavirus Pandemic. Here’s the latest update:

This year there will be no kids lining the shore.

A big catch from 2015.

Registered participants will receive full refunds.

Arbor Day, Earth Day and Jetty Island clean up events scheduled in April are cancelled. In May, the annual Kids Fish In and Viva Color events are cancelled.

The governor’s order is extended through May 4, prohibiting all social, spiritual and recreational gatherings and closing non-essential businesses. Spring and summer program registration will open May 4 or when the governor’s order is lifted.

The following facilities remain closed until further notice:

• All Everett parks gates, restrooms, active areas and recreation amenities.
• Legion Memorial & Walter E Hall golf courses.
• Kasch Park Athletic Office & Recreation Office at Forest Park.
• The Forest Park Swim Center.
• The Carl Gipson Senior Center. They will continue to provide lunches through the Homage senior lunch program.

Community members are encouraged to call the Recreation Office at 425-257-8300 ext. 2 if unsure about a program, service or facility schedule.

Visit everettwa.gov/COVID19 for up-to-date information on City operations and response, program cancellations and closures, as well as additional resources and information.

Word in today from the Everett School District after the Governor and School Superintendent announced kids will not return to the classroom this school year.

April 6, 2020 | 3:45 p.m.
As you have likely heard, today Governor Jay Inslee announced the closure of all school buildings in our state through the end of this school year. It is hard for all of us, because we miss having our students in school, but we know this is the right decision for the health of our community.

Although we will not be back in the classroom this year, we are confident we will be able to continue learning and student engagement through June.

To our families and staff – please continue to enjoy your spring break. When we are back and reengaged next week we will be able to share more details about what the rest of the year will look like. Please continue to stay home and stay safe.

We are in this together and will get through it.

The shutdown has been extended.

Boeing is extending the temporary suspension of production operations at all Puget Sound area and Moses Lake sites until further notice. These actions are being taken in light of the company’s continuing focus on the health and safety of employees, current assessment of the spread of COVID-19 in Washington state, the reliability of the supply chain and additional recommendations from government health authorities.

During the suspension, the company will continue to implement additional health and safety measures at its facilities to protect employees. These measures include new visual cues to encourage physical distancing, more frequent and thorough cleaning of work and common areas and staggering shift times to reduce the flow of employees arriving and departing work, among many other improvements.

“The health and safety of our employees, their families and our communities is our shared priority,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stan Deal. “We will take this time to continue to listen to our incredible team and assess applicable government direction, the spread of the coronavirus in the community and the reliability of our suppliers to ensure we are ready for a safe and orderly return to operations.”

The volunteers who have been supporting essential site and services work should continue to report to their assigned shifts. Puget Sound area and Moses Lake employees who can work from home should continue to do so.
As the suspension of operations continues, Boeing will monitor government guidance and actions on COVID-19 and associated impact on all company operations. Boeing sites that remain open are being monitored and assessed on a daily basis.