The North Sound Transportation Alliance (NSTA) is a forum of elected officials and staff of transportation, transit, and planning agencies from Washington's five northwestern-most counties: Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, Island, and northern Snohomish.
Through the sharing of best practices, learning about regional projects, and engaging with members of the public, NSTA strives to help develop better ways for people to travel in the region without a personal vehicle.
Participating agencies work together to:
Share travel and system data to identify needs
Plan regional connections and services collaboratively
Work together to coordinate sustainable, equitable, and innovative transportation solutions
Inform the public about transportation services to enhance awareness of the regional transportation network
NSTA stakeholder agencies focus on five key areas: transit, rail, ferries, active transportation, and the relationship of health and transportation.
The following projects were completed with grant funding for the North Sound Connecting Communities Project, also known as the Farmhouse Gang.
WCOG conducted a passenger survey on all four County Connector routes in March and April of 2015. The County Connector Passenger Survey was funded by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) using Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO) funds. This report summarizes results of the first passenger survey conducted on the county connector service.
As a result of the Intermodal Connections and Commuter Study, funding was set aside for a joint transit project providing continuous transit service within Whatcom, Skagit and Island Counties. This project was subsequently made permanent and continues to provide transportation connections to schools, colleges, medical facilities and other services. Additional connections were coordinated later to allow transit travel from Whatcom County through Skagit and Island Counties to Everett, the major employment center in Snohomish County.
Through NSTA, funds contributed by several parties were combined to determine the fiscal feasibility of and best-case ownership and operating arrangements for such a service, based on a previous four-month ferry service pilot project and survey.
This pilot project established ten traveler information kiosks at major transportation crossroads around the region, including train stations, ferry terminals and airports. The kiosks were supplied with poster-sized Transportation Connections maps as well as individual brochures. This project was funded by a combination of local contributions and federal Transportation Enhancement funds. Although this project has been completed, WCOG continues to provide maps and update the posters.
In 2001, the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation identified regional governance of transportation as an area in which improvement was necessary. Following up on these recommendations, the State Legislature considered a number of legislative proposals regarding regional governance and financing mechanisms. NSTA requested and received funding to conduct its own study of regional transportation governance models, and to develop alternatives that would build upon the positive working relationships developed in northwest Washington. The Governance Study was prepared by the WCOG and the Cascadia Project of the Discovery Institute and was completed in 2002.
Although the Governance Study found no compelling need or interest in changing fundamental attributes of the NSTA, it did identify opportunities for improvement, including clarification of the coalition’s purpose, mission and goals. Among the recommendations were clarifying NSTA goals, developing performance measures to better gauge levels of success and strengthening the coalition’s support for its existing constituencies.
This study examined existing and future demand for work-based and other types of commuter transportation in northwestern Washington and considered the availability, feasibility and desirability of all potential modes.
For more information, please contact Melissa Fanucci, Principal Planner at melissa@wcog.org or call (360) 685-8385.