Back during the glory days when it appeared Seattle might actually have a monorail connecting West Seattle to and through the heart of downtown, we journeyed to Vancouver, B.C., to ask about their Skytrain and the interlocking heavy rail, bus and sea bus system that has lessened traffic on the area's chocked highways.

One point was made clear by the official in charge of the heavy rail line and Skytrain: nothing will ever work unless there is a single agency to plan and control all regional public transportation. Separate agencies will squabble and dispute factors that their particular constituencies favor, leaving a mess.

This became clear, not only during the monorail fiasco, but especially during the recent stupid political brawl over the form of roadway to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The mayor defied the governor, and the City Council dithered and yammered but basically did little. Downtown interests pulled puppet strings.

We have had the so-called vote and it proved nothing. Now we have a proclaimed breathing room of two years where nothing will get done, except for more political hyperventilating.

The fact is that no one is in charge of transportation in this state. We have separate fiefdoms, from counties, to cities, to the state; of highway, water and rail transportation.

The entire process is a disaster.

Into the fray State Sen. Ed Murray stepped with Senate Bill 5803, which would establish a regional transportation body consisting of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties to "address transportation governance, planning, funding and administration."

The measure was voted on by the Senate last week and passed 33 to 14. West Seattle Sen. Erik Poulsen voted against the measure.

It has already been said that another layer of government is not a great idea, but somebody - some agency - must be in charge. This measure has some obvious difficulties we cannot fully support. If SB 5803 is not the answer, it at least takes a bold step to an obvious solution.

We cannot continue the squabbling and the dithering. We must have action on the viaduct (we still favor fixing it) and other major problem transportation areas that include the 520 Bridge, the need for modern water transportation upgrades, more public transportation that actually works to get people to where they need to go. There must be a way for West Seattle residents to get downtown and back, and for industry not to be stranded at one or the other end of the downtown traffic morass.

This time, we need action, not spiteful words.

- Jack Mayne