Pierce Transit 496 ends today, Sound Transit 596 takes over Monday

The Bonney Lake Park and Ride connector bus is dead, long live the Bonney Lake Park and Ride connector bus. Friday marks the last official trip of Pierce Transit's 496 route, which was eliminated in budget cuts last year. The route linked the Sumner Sounder Station with the Bonney Lake Park and Ride lot with buses timed to meet the trains.

The Bonney Lake Park and Ride connector bus is dead, long live the Bonney Lake Park and Ride connector bus.

Friday marks the last official trip of Pierce Transit’s 496 route, which was eliminated in budget cuts last year. The route linked the Sumner Sounder Station with the Bonney Lake Park and Ride lot with buses timed to meet the trains.

But in April, the Sound Transit Board approved a motion to take over the route, renaming it the 596. The first official run of the 596 is scheduled for Monday.

To celebrate the change, Sound Transit is hosting a Rider Appreciation Event during Monday’s afternoon commute to welcome riders as they make the run up Ehli Hill. Sound Transit’s mascot, Zap Gridlock, will be on hand as will Sound Transit staff, at the pick-up point to greet riders starting with the first incoming train at 3:50 p.m. and ending with the last train at 6:50 p.m.

At the Bonney Lake Park-and-Ride, the terminus for Route 596, ST staff will greet bus riders as they de-board and thank them for riding by passing out samples of Sumner’s famous rhubarb fudge, courtesy of The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse’s Visitors Center.

During the first run of the 596, Sumner Mayor and Sound Transit Board member Dave Enslow and County Executive and Sound Transit Chair Pat McCarthy will join staff at the station to greet riders and will then ride up the hill to Bonney Lake where Mayor Neil Johnson is scheduled to be on hand to accept a Rhubarb Pie from Enslow, as a symbol of the two connected communities.

Enslow and McCarthy were instrumental in persuading Sound Transit to take over the route. As part of the agreement to keep the bus running, Bonney Lake will handle maintenance on the Park and Ride lot.

McCarthy and Enslow will stay in Bonney Lake to greet the next incoming Route 596, which arrives at 4:47 p.m., and help hand out the fudge samples to those riders as they de-board. They will then take that bus back to Sumner station (arriving at around 5 p.m.). ST staff will remain behind to greet each subsequent bus as it arrives at Bonney Lake.