Completed South Tacoma Station offers commuter parking, new ST Express route
Commuting options for Pierce County residents will expand next week with a newly completed South Tacoma Station, featuring a park-and-ride lot and a new bus route. The latest addition to Sound Transit’s fast-growing ST Express service will be Route 593, running from South Tacoma to Tacoma Dome Station and downtown Seattle starting Feb. 9.
The new $16.5 million South Tacoma Station, located just off South Tacoma Way, is open for parking and bus service while final work on the train platform is completed. The station includes more than 220 parking stalls and a bus platform for ST Express Route 593 at the south end of the facility. Pierce Transit Route 53 and 300 are also within blocks of the new transit facility, with destinations throughout Pierce County.
“We're excited to give Pierce County commuters more opportunities to hop on the bus,” said Sound Transit Chair and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. "Folks can get around the region, and leave the driving to the professionals.”
“Bus service at the South Tacoma Station is proof positive that Sound Transit is determined to provide immediate commuter service while we press ahead with the completion of Sounder rail. We deliver on our promises,” said Sound Transit Boardmember and Tacoma City Councilmember Julie Anderson. “I am very proud of the way Sound Transit and the City of Tacoma have collaborated on solutions to implement the regional transportation vision.”
“South Tacoma Station is not only a much needed facility, it’s a symbol of the partnerships and the collaboration between transit agencies, between cities, and really, a symbol of what we can achieve as a region when we work together towards a common goal,” said Sound Transit Boardmember and Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy.
Sounder train service will be extended to South Tacoma Station and Lakewood Station by 2012. Completing South Tacoma Station and Lakewood Station leaves two continuing projects for the Sounder extension—track upgrades from Tacoma to Lakewood, and the construction of the new track segment from Tacoma Dome Station over Pacific Avenue called the D-to-M Street project.
“It’s a small step to open South Tacoma Station for bus service, but a step in the right direction,” said Tacoma City Councilmember Lauren Walker. “The next step towards Tacoma’s transportation future is getting these rails ready for trains.”
Tacoma City Councilmember Connie Ladenburg remarked, “Rail transportation is not only the future of this community; it is what built this very neighborhood a hundred years ago. Tacoma’s history is helping to shape our destiny, and we’re forging a future that connects us and binds us with the entire region with Sounder commuter rail service.”
More information about the South Tacoma Station project is available at x1866.xml.
For general transit information, visit Pierce Transit at www.piercetransit.org; and Sound Transit at www.soundtransit.org.