WA Public Transportation Plan Update online open house

Help shape the future of public transportation in Washington state.

WSDOT’s Public Transportation Division is updating the 2016 Washington State Public Transportation Plan. We want to create a plan that truly addresses the transportation needs of community members across Washington state.

If you’re not familiar with the Public Transportation Plan, it serves as a guide for future statewide planning of public transportation in Washington. The plan moves our state toward a more integrated, multimodal transportation system that meets the needs of growing and thriving communities. This update serves as an opportunity to check in on the planning goals and priorities while incorporating new research, data and input through public engagement.

State law requires WSDOT to develop a statewide public transportation plan (RCW 47.06.110). According to the law, the plan must:

1. Articulate the state interest in public transportation and provide quantifiable objectives, including benefits indicators.
2. Identify the goals for public transit and the roles of federal, state, regional, and local entities in achieving those goals.
3. Recommend mechanisms for coordinating state, regional, and local planning for public transportation.
4. Recommend mechanisms for coordinating public transportation with other transportation services and modes.
5. Recommend criteria, consistent with the goals identified in “2” above for existing federal authorizations administered by WSDOT to transit agencies.
6. Recommend a statewide public transportation facilities and equipment management system, as required by federal law.

Pre-planning and community engagement

To prepare for the 2026 Public Transportation Plan update, the planning team analyzed a collection of existing studies, plans and reports focused on public transportation in Washington. The analysis is documented in six briefing papers written in early 2025. These briefing papers are meant to inform the authors, community, industry, and executive partners about WSDOT’s understanding of current statewide public transportation topics, challenges, and opportunities.

The planning team is collecting feedback on the briefing papers including:

• Does this reflect your experience with public transportation?
• What perspective is missing from these briefing papers?

You can read each briefing paper below:

• Community benefits (PDF 102KB)
• How to measure access (PDF 100KB)
• Needs and gaps (PDF 122KB)
• Community trends (PDF 108KB)
• Funding gaps and opportunities (PDF 120KB)
• Transportation policies (PDF 113KB)

2023 early engagement

In summer and fall of 2023, WSDOT completed early engagement for the Public Transportation Plan update. The purpose of this early engagement was to learn from communities across the state about how to best partner together to develop a plan that addresses needs and offers strategies that truly improve mobility and access for all.

WSDOT met with service providers, community-based organizations, and coalitions of community groups serving populations WSDOT hadn’t successfully or s0/widufficiently connected with during previous outreach efforts:

• Unhoused and precariously housed individuals.
• Young adults.
• Communities WSDOT defines as “vulnerable populations in overburdened communities.”

WSDOT connected with these groups through two methods:

• Conducting briefings with staff or boards of community-based organizations.
• Conducting interviews with community based organizations.

Interview questions for early engagement (PDF 100KB)

Briefing presentation for early engagement (PDF 549KB)

Map of the location of organizations WSDOT worked with during early engagement

Top recommendations offered to improve WSDOT’s engagement:

• Make engagement as easy as possible for community members and for partnering community-based organizations. Examples from interviewees:
  • Follow the advice of community-based organizations about how to shape the engagement.
  • Conduct engagement at events that people are already going to and where partner community-based organizations already have a role or a presence.
  • Ensure the engagement is accessible and easy to participate in.
• Build ongoing and sustained relationships in the community by showing up consistently, even when not collecting feedback. Examples from interviewees:
  • Report back to partner community-based organizations in between outreach phases to let them know what is happening and what the next steps are.
  • Have a consistent presence at community events even outside of engagement phases.
• Offer fair and appropriate compensation for time and lived experiences. Examples from interviewees:
  • Offer monetary compensation for those providing feedback at the time of engagement.
  • Offer vouchers, bus tickets, or other ways to help with daily necessities.
• Conduct outreach with a good understanding of existing barriers to transportation, and expecting to hear things that are difficult, including critiques of previous outreach.
• Make partnership easy for community-based organizations, community service providers, and community leaders. Examples from interviewees:
  • Keep partners updated and provide sufficient notice ahead of outreach.
  • Support, sponsor, and attend events that partner organizations are hosting, organizing, or participating in.
  • Take on logistical and administrative tasks, or tasks like translation and interpretation if that is helpful for the partner organization.
  • Share findings and results of outreach when possible.

Broadly, WSDOT learned that strong community partnerships would benefit both the agency and community members. Additionally, through this partnership, WSDOT may better understand community needs, which may lead to better engagement and outreach, and a public transportation plan that better reflects community needs and priorities.

If you’d like more information, please contact:

Coby Zeifman

Project manager
Coby.Zeifman@wsdot.wa.gov
206-716-1103