It's not only Pierce Transit riders who are facing massive service cuts in response to declining sales tax revenue. Up in Snohomish County, the Community Transit board has approved system changes that will slash bus service by 20 percent starting in February 2012. They call it the "Hybrid Alternative," but it doesn't involve fancy new hybrid buses. Just a lot less of the regular kind.

This is what happens when we defund bus systems. We dismantle them.