Snohomish County Transportation Coalition

We can't wait to celebrate the arrival of light rail to Snohomish County!

Yesterday, the D'Arling Direct began running 3 roundtrips per day from Arlington to Darrington! This marks the latest milestone in Snotrac's six-year effort to improve rural transit in North Snohomish County. Rural areas are exceedingly difficult for public transit agencies to justify providing significant service when their same dollar could result in serving more people and higher ridership within urban areas. Luckily, there is federal funding and local partners that can supplement service in rural areas ... if you can figure out the politics, funding streams, logistics, and operations. Funded by 49 CFR 5310 & 5311 and local match dollars, plus a special allocation in the 2022 Move Ahead WA transportation package to the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe that has been directed to this project, the Homage Senior Services now runs the D'Arling Direct as a "flex-route" transit service from Smokey Point Transit Center to the Darrington Community Center, everyday of the week, 3x M-F, and 2x Sat-Sun. The D'Arling complements Community Transit's Route 230, which runs between Smokey Point and Darrington on weekdays, once in the morning and once in the evening. Operated as a "flex-route," the D'Arling operates on a fixed schedule to specific stops along the way, but there's enough flex time within the schedule that the driver can do a curb-to-curb pick-up/drop-off with 24-hour prior scheduling. This is a critical feature of the D'Arling as Community Transit does not provide Dial-A-Ride Transit (DART) paratransit service in the North Stillaguamish Valley. Implemented at the same time as the new D'Arling Direct service is an updated route and schedule for the DC Direct. The Sauk-Suiattle Tribe has operated the DC Direct as a free public transit service between Darrington and Concrete for decades. The bus schedule had never changed, and my analysis showed that there were unbearable transfer times from the DC Direct to Skagit Transit's 70X in Concrete. In addition, there was an opportunity to sync the DC Direct with the 230 and D'Arling. Working with tribal leadership and WSDOT staff, we were able to get agreement to update the DC Direct's schedule and route, making connections seamless and better serving residents between Darrington and Concrete who want to get down valley. This work follows the successful planning, grant-seeking, and implementation of Snow Goose Transit that now connects Camano Island, Stanwood, and Arlington with a flex-route service, operated by the Lincoln Hill Retirement Community. These services will continue to have growing pains as the relatively small nonprofits operate their mini transit operations. Blended funding models that combine public transit agencies money with nonprofits (subsidized by federal/state funding) operating the service is likely the more sustainable future for rural transit. View Snotrac's new online Transit Guide for North Snohomish County: https://lnkd.in/g5hUCNNs

Snotrac is in the process of establishing a sibling organization, Connect Snohomish County (#ConnectSnoCo), to focus on transportation demand management and built environment advocacy in Snohomish County. Follow along on LinkedIn at https://lnkd.in/g59pR9Up