King County needs transit now

By Larry Phillips

We are fortunate in King County to have one of the largest and best regional bus systems in the nation. In fact, the only complaint I hear about Metro Transit is that citizens want more of it. On Nov. 7th, voters will have the opportunity to expand our bus system by approving Proposition 2, known as Transit Now.

Traffic congestion is a quality of life issue that we all deal with on a daily basis. There is no single magic bullet that will solve the problem, but Metro bus service does a good job of helping our transportation system work better. Metro Transit already carries 335,000 riders per day. That's three times the number of cars traveling on the 520 bridge or the Alaskan Way Viaduct each day.

At a modest annual cost of $25 per household, Transit Now will help Metro keep pace with population and employment growth by increasing our bus service 20 percent over the next 10 years. The service increase will be used to relieve overcrowding on the most-used routes, add new service to growing residential and job centers throughout King County, and implement new bus rapid transit corridors. Transit Now will also increase King County's fleet of environmentally friendly hybrid buses, increase Access service for elderly and disabled riders, and allow for new partnerships with cities and employers.

Seattle voters will benefit from:

- New "RapidRide" Bus Rapid Transit corridors between Ballard and the south downtown stadium area, West Seattle and Downtown Seattle, and Shoreline and Downtown Seattle.

- Increased frequency on bus routes serving Northgate, the University District and Downtown Seattle.

- Improved east-west connections through Capitol Hill, South Lake Union and Uptown/Lower Queen Anne.

- Increased frequency and better connections for routes serving Sound Transit's Link light rail stations at Mt. Baker, Othello, and Rainier Beach.

An editorial by a member of the Washington Policy Center, published in the Oct. 18 issue of the Ballard News-Tribune, contained misleading information and questioned Metro's ability to deliver promised service. In 2000, shortly after Washington State's passage of Initiative 695, which gutted Metro Transit's funding by one-third, voters passed a sales tax increase of 0.2 percent. The increase was necessary to backfill revenue lost to I-695 in order to avoid service cuts, and it was also projected to increase service by as much as 500,000 service hours.

Due to the economic impacts of 9/11 and the dot.com bust, sales tax receipts slumped, hampering Metro's ability to meet service projections. Nevertheless, Metro delivered on the promise made to voters in 2000 to keep our bus system whole and also delivered more than 250,000 new service hours. Because Metro has kept projections conservative and used the latest and best forecasting technology, voters can have confidence that Metro will successfully deliver the services and benefits described in Transit Now.

Contrary to Washington Policy Center claims, many of these improvements can be implemented right away. Passage of Transit Now means we'll start seeing more buses on the streets in February 2007. RapidRide routes will take a little time to implement, but they'll be worth the wait. Buses will run so frequently that you'll be able to throw away your schedule. Traffic light synchronization along RapidRide routes will help improve speed. Stations will be bigger and will contain real time arrival information, taking the guesswork out of riding the bus.

The Washington Policy Center also claims that transit's market share hasn't increased in 26 years. That misleading statistic refers to overall market share through a twenty-four hour period. Most of us don't care about bus ridership when we make our 3 a.m. trip to the pharmacy; we care about transit market share during peak commute hours. During peak hours, transit accounts for 40 percent of all trips in and out of downtown Seattle, and that number is growing.

Residents in 30 percent of King County households ride the bus. For our region to fight congestion and maintain our quality of life, we need to make riding the bus easier. By increasing frequency on popular routes and adding new routes where demand exists, riders will have more flexibility and more choices. Transit Now is projected to take 50,000 additional cars off the road each weekday.

Transit Now is widely supported by businesses, labor organizations, and environmental groups, including The Sierra Club, Seattle Chamber of Commerce, League of Women Voters, the King County Labor Council, and many more.

These groups understand that Transit Now is a vital piece of a larger regional effort to combat increasing congestion. I hope you will join me in voting Yes for King County Proposition 2.

Larry Phillips lives in Magnolia and serves on the Metropolitan King County Council, representing District 4.