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Transit Now moves to council for review, approval
King County residents will have more opportunities to offer their
opinion on a proposal to increase transit service countywide, as the
King County Council begins to review Executive
Ron Sims’
Transit Now
proposal.
 Last
week, Sims transmitted the transit service initiative to the council and
urged it to move quickly to place the measure before voters.
Councilmember Julia Patterson agreed swift action is needed, and has
already set up a special meeting this week of the Council’s
Transportation Committee to begin discussing the initiative.
If approved by the voters, Transit Now will add more frequent and faster
bus service to the county's busiest and most congested roads and
highways. The goal is to attract more than 50,000 new daily bus riders
to the system, reducing the number of vehicles on our congested
roadways.
Overall, the Sims initiative contains four key strategies for delivering
improved service across the county:
- Bus Rapid Transit in five of the most congested travel corridors in
Seattle, East, and South King County where the goal is to have buses
running every 10-minutes most of the time.
- More frequent buses – every 15 minutes where possible – and running
more hours of the day where needed on 35 high-ridership routes, cutting
the wait time for thousands of passengers.
- New service in rapidly growing neighborhoods.
- Partnerships with other agencies or businesses to target transit
investments to maximize ridership and better serve expanding employment
centers.
The plan will also expand paratransit and rideshare services, and add
more environmentally friendly hybrid and clean diesel buses. The
cleanest burning fuels available will power the entire transit fleet.
Metro will buy 75 hybrid (diesel/electric) buses and 100 buses that will
run on ultra low sulfur diesel with a biodiesel blend.
When combined with current resources, Transit Now expands Metro bus
service by more than 20 percent with funding from the proposed one-tenth
of one percent sales tax increase. The increase would cost the average
family about $25 a year, less than a tank of gas. It would allow Metro
to keep pace with regional growth and use the final tenth of one percent
sales tax authorized by the state legislature after Initiative 695 cut
transit funding statewide.
Sims said that unlike major construction projects, Metro Transit could
begin adding new bus service within months of voter approval. He said
more people choosing to ride the bus is critical to keeping pace with
growing congestion, especially as the economy grows and major
construction projects like the Alaskan Way Viaduct disrupt regional
traffic.
Since Sims unveiled the plan in April, the King County Department of
Transportation (KCDOT) has carried out an extensive public outreach
process to gather input on the proposal. More than 5,000 King County
residents weighed in, and expressed strong support for the ideas in the
initiative.
 "We
received an amazingly large and positive response to Transit Now,” said
Sims. “People want to keep the region moving and reap the environmental
benefits of adding more clean fuel buses to our fleet."
During the outreach, staff found 79 to 90 percent support for major
service improvements included in Transit Now. KCDOT staff connected with
more than 80 stakeholder groups, including employers, community
organizations and local government agencies. Information and feedback
forms were mailed to more than 20,000 people on transit's mailing lists.
More than 3,700 community members completed the feedback form, a very
high 18 percent return rate.
A separate random survey of 633 households commissioned by Metro in May
revealed 77 percent support for a sales tax increase to pay for the
service expansion. Most of those responding thought proposed services
such as Bus Rapid Transit and frequent all-day service in heavily
traveled corridors were important. There was also significant support
for improving services and facilities for seniors and people with
disabilities. Nearly 80 percent said they supported more Metro service
in growing residential neighborhoods and all-day service in areas where
there is the potential for high ridership.
Over the past several weeks, the Transit Now proposal was adjusted to
reflect some of the public feedback before it was sent to the council.
"The public's input was particularly valuable in helping us fine-tune
the service partnership element of the proposal," Metro General Manager
Kevin Desmond said. "Our more detailed proposal will permit both
suburban and Seattle employers and governments that have expressed
interest in this program to qualify. Residents also told us they support
expansion of our Access service serving persons with disabilities and
our commuter Vanpool program."
Sims is recommending that the council place Transit Now on the November
ballot. During the council review over the summer months, there will be
several opportunities for the public to offer testimony either in person
or in writing.
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