Pierce Transit will remove as many as 214 bus stops as part of a plan to increase safety and ridership and improve on-time performance on scheduled routes.

Effective March 20, about 10 percent of 2,100 bus stops in the Pierce Transit system will close. Officials said the action follows a yearlong review that included 415 comments from the public on stops considered or scheduled for removal.

Information on which stops are affected is available online at piercetransit.org.

Reducing the number of bus stops, including ones that are too close together, can speed up passenger trips by reducing the amount of time buses spend stopping and waiting for riders to board or get off, according to officials. They said stops should be no closer to each other than one-eighth of mile in dense urban areas and a quarter-mile (about four blocks) in other areas. That will help with situations such one route that has 21 stops within just over one mile, officials said.

Besides proximity to other stops, decisions to remove stops were based on pedestrian safety, accessibility, rider use of the stops, and nearby transfer points and major destinations such as medical facilities, schools and stores.