I would like to respond to the editorial about Metro Transit ("Metro Transit needs overhaul") published the week of July 7, 2008.

There are almost 400,000 people - Metro's daily ridership - who would disagree with the statement in the editorial that most buses do not "go the way people need to go." In recent years, Metro Transit has not had problems attracting new riders. Last year we carried a record 110 million riders, and so far this year Metro ridership is already up 6 percent over last year for January through May. It's not just record gas prices that are driving people to ride the bus or vanpool. It's also that Metro has been expanding and revising service to best meet people's travel needs.

In 2004, Metro revised its network of bus routes for Delridge, White Center, Burien, Des Moines, and neighboring areas in order to speed service to and from downtown Seattle. Two years later, we made improvements to the transit connections and facilities at the Alaska Junction. New service in 2007 included 15-minute frequency between Ballard, Wallingford and the University District. We also doubled the amount of Saturday daytime service between Seattle, White Center and Burien.

The Transit Now program approved by voters in 2006 emphasizes improvements to do what the editorial suggests, helping Metro keep pace where King County growth and transit service demand are occurring. Transit Now dollars are being used to: improve bus service on high-ridership routes and in growing residential areas; develop new bus rapid transit service in five corridors, including RapidRide service to both West Seattle and Ballard; and improve Metro's vanpool and Access paratransit services.

Metro has been delivering service improvements on pace with the Transit Now phasing plan, and will have delivered approximately 110,000 new transit service hours by the end of this year. That's 17 percent of the new service promised delivered in less than two years.

In West Seattle, Metro is moving ahead on schedule with the implementation of RapidRide service, which will begin in 2011. This spring, we completed the first phase of planning for routing and station/stop locations with the assistance of a community-based advisory panel and public input from individuals as well as community and business organizations in West Seattle. A similar process is just getting started for Ballard RapidRide.

In addition, we are planning to take a fresh look at the transit networks in both communities as part of the next phase of planning for RapidRide. We want to see if there are more efficient ways of deploying our existing resources in conjunction with RapidRide and providing better frequencies of service, longer hours of operation, improved community connections, and in some cases improved geographic service coverage.

Adding routes and service does increase our operating costs, so we plan expansions of our system very carefully and with a great deal of public input.

Currently, our budget is also strained by skyrocketing diesel prices. Metro is proposing a fare increase to avoid cutting service; such as some transit agencies are currently doing to absorb rising fuel costs. King County Executive Sims has said he does not want to see service reductions that would affect the level and quality of bus service, or hurt Metro's ability to provide transportation alternatives now and in the future. This is especially important at a time when more and more people are depending on Metro to get them where they want - and need - to go.

Kevin Desmond

General Manager

King County Metro Transit