November's Sound Transit proposal to expand express bus service, enhance commuter rail, and add 36 miles of light rail will have enormous benefits for West Seattle and the entire three-county region.

The 15-year plan - known as Mass Transit Now - is a sound investment that will provide immediate relief for overcrowded buses and commuter trains while creating infrastructure that will serve people's mobility needs for generations into the future. With gas prices soaring, congestion worsening, and 1.2 million people coming to the region in the next two decades, we must act now.

Mass Transit Now includes funding to study a future light rail extension from downtown to West Seattle and Burien. As members of the Sound Transit Board of Directors, we sponsored a successful amendment that puts extensions studied in this year's proposal at the head of the line for future light rail funding.

As King County Council members, we also supported 2006's Transit Now ballot issue, which is currently being implemented to add thousands of service hours to Metro bus routes across King County, including the creation of the West Seattle RapidRide bus rapid transit line with fast, frequent service to the Alaska Junction, the Fauntleroy Ferry Dock, and Westwood Village.

But simply adding more bus service will not bring true relief. In a dense urban area like ours, rail provides better speed, reliability and capacity than buses. Adding more buses to congested roadways on the highest volume routes is inefficient. Light rail operates in its own right of way. A single-operator train can carry 800 passengers, making it far cheaper to operate than buses. Buses work best in lower volume corridors and providing feeder service to the light rail line.

A recent editorial in the West Seattle Herald claimed that the Mass Transit Now proposal is somehow a giveaway to suburban areas. That couldn't be further from the truth.

First, the three-county Sound Transit system covers large portions of three counties - King, Snohomish and Pierce - and splits this territory into five sub-areas. (King County is split into North, East, and South sub-areas - the North sub-area is comprised of the cities of Seattle and Shoreline.) Money collected from taxpayers in one sub-area must be spent to benefit that sub-area. So, only Snohomish County residents are paying for light rail to Lynnwood.

Sound Transit's first phase, approved by voters in 1996, has constructed the soon-to-open Link Light Rail line. That 15.6-mile system from downtown to SeaTac Airport will be in full operation by the end of next year. An extension to Capitol Hill and the University of Washington will be on line by 2016.

Mass Transit Now seeks to extend this light rail spine north to Northgate and Shoreline, east to Bellevue and Overlake, and south to Federal Way, gaining tens of thousands of daily riders.

RapidRide works in coordination with Mass Transit Now to ensure that West Seattle residents have a frequent connection to the regional light rail and commuter rail systems. Riders will benefit by gaining transit connections to regional destinations such as Sea-Tac Airport, the University of Washington, Highline Community College, downtown Bellevue, and the Microsoft Campus.

Mass Transit Now immediately expands express bus service on overcrowded corridors including Interstate 5, State Route 520, and Interstate 90. It also nearly doubles service on the popular standing-room-only Sounder Commuter Rail. Additionally, as light rail is built out in Seattle, it replaces Metro bus routes, freeing up tens of thousands of hours of service to be redistributed to other Seattle bus routes.

Mass Transit Now will help working families by saving them thousands of dollars a year in transportation costs, while costing only $69 a year per person. It will bring family wage jobs to this region and help businesses by quickly and efficiently moving employees and customers.

Mass Transit Now also helps the environment, reducing carbon emissions and lessening our region's dependence on cars and petroleum - light rail trains run on clean electricity. Light rail also encourages private investment in the type of compact, walkable communities that reduce carbon emissions and protect natural resources.

A vote for Mass Transit Now this November is just that - a vote now for the transportation relief, environmental protection, and economic benefits of mass transit while laying the foundation for future light rail connections to West Seattle, as well as Ballard, Burien, Issaquah, Everett, and Tacoma. Turning down Mass Transit Now simply means more of the status quo - overcrowded buses, $4 gas, over-reliance on single occupancy vehicle commutes - and we cannot afford that.

For more information on Mass Transit Now, visit www.masstransitnow.com.

King County Council members Larry Phillips and Dow Constantine represent the communities of Ballard and West Seattle, respectively, on the King County Council. Both are members of the Sound Transit Board of Directors. They may be reached at dow.constantine@kingcounty.gov or larry.phillips@kingcounty.gov