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Editorial: City needs to hear residents’ thoughts

Ever since the city of Puyallup announced its intentions to look into a bus rapid transit (BRT) project, nearly all of the local reaction has been positive.

The city should be commended for its approach to creating a sustainable community, one that creates less pollution by utilizing alternative modes of transportation. A bus system that gets people from point A to point B in a timely fashion while getting them out of their single-occupancy vehicles certainly accomplishes that task.

But is that what the people of Puyallup really want? Very few private residents have spoken about the issue which, admittedly, is in its infant stages. The city recently obtained $1.46 million to conduct a preliminary study for the bus line, tentatively named Easy Rider Area (EZRA) in honor of the city’s first mayor, Ezra Meeker.

The study would take at least a year to complete and still hinges on support from the city council, which isn’t a foregone conclusion given the nature of local politics. Similar BRT projects around the country have taken decades to materialize from ideas to reality, though city staff seems resolved to move this project along more quickly.

The alternatives analysis study would show if BRT could work along a four-mile stretch of Meridian from issues of practicality and cost. Could Meridian, in its current form, handle a bus system without bogging down further? Could the city inexpensively purchase right of way for the project should it need additional space?

Puyallup officials have rightly pointed out that BRT might not be the way to go. Lane Transit District in Eugene, Ore., says it’s the smallest community in the country to have such a system. And Eugene’s population dwarfs Puyallup’s.

What really needs to be known here is whether the residents of Puyallup support EZRA. Would they hop on rapid transit more frequently than they do the current Pierce Transit buses? If not, forward-thinking logic is a moot point.