PORT TOWNSEND — A Jefferson Transit official is visiting local merchants to determine their employees’ ridership patterns and offer incentives to get people on the bus.
The idea is to both increase ridership and improve the downtown parking situation, said Leesa Monroe, Jefferson Transit’s mobility coordinator.
“I’m visiting businesses to see what I can do to encourage people who work downtown to become regular riders,” Monroe said.
“We would also like to free up some of the downtown parking.”
Monroe began the survey Thursday, which also was the American Public Transportation Association’s eighth annual “Dump the Pump Day,” a campaign to encourage people to take public transportation.
During the national public awareness day, which is in partnership with the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, APTA says riding public transit saves money, particularly when gas prices are high.
The group’s latest report shows that a two-person household that downsizes to one car can save an average of $9,700 a year.
The timing of the Jefferson Transit effort with Dump the Pump Day was coincidental, Monroe said.
Monroe has about 50 businesses she wishes to contact and expects it will take several days to work through the list.
She asks each business owner how many employees ride the bus and how often, and what is stopping people from becoming regular riders.
After the survey, she gives the business owners two complimentary bus passes.
Quimper Mercantile was the first business Monroe visited Thursday, where assistant manager Holly Mayshark said few of her employees are bus riders.
“One of our guys used to ride all the time, but he stopped when his schedule changed,” Mayshark said.
“We have two shifts a day, and their start times don’t correspond with the bus schedule and doesn’t match where the bus picks up according to where they live.”
Mayshark told Monroe that the shuttle schedule between the Park and Ride on Landes Street and downtown has been “problematic” in connecting to the shift schedule.
Aside from modifying the schedule, Mayshark suggested that the transit system supply downtown merchants with printed schedules so they can inform their customers when the next bus is scheduled to arrive.
Monroe said the data assembled from the survey will be used to improve service and modify schedules.
For more information about Jefferson Transit, visit www.jeffersontransit.com.
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
