"Metro is embarking on one of the major service reductions it's had in many, many years. The service cuts are going to come, and we will feel the pain."

Those were the not-so encouraging words Ref Lindmark, chair of the City Neighborhood Council Transportation Committee, had for the Ballard District Council July 8.

During his presentation on the future of public transportation in Ballard, Lindmark, also a King County Metro employee, warned of pending service cuts at Metro due to lack of funds.

The economic recession has taken its toll on sales tax funds, from which Metro gets 70 percent of its budget, he said. It also couldn't have happened at a worse time, as demand for public transportation has never been higher, he said.

"It's going to be a smaller system," Lindmark said. "You'll either have to walk longer for a bus stop, or wait longer for a bus once you get there, or when you get on a bus, it will be standing-room only."

The outlook for Metro service could be even worse for Seattle than for the rest of the county, he said.

Metro currently operates under what is called the 40-40-20 plan. That plan calls for 40 percent of all new Metro services to go to the eastside, 40 percent to go to the southern suburbs, and 20 percent to go to Seattle and Shoreline.

Lindmark said this operating plan also calls for 62 percent of all cuts to Metro service to come from Seattle and Shoreline.

Because Metro is run by the county, the same suburban politicians who pushed for 40-40-20 are pushing for its use in the cuts to spare suburban routes, he said.

Lindmark said Metro is undergoing a campaign to convince elected officials that there are better way to make the cuts than under the 40-40-20 agreement, but it is the politicians who will have the final say.

In April, Metro was looking at three main reduction plans to make sure they have a reliable system after the cuts, he said.

The first plan is congestion relief. Service would remain at current levels during peak morning and evening hours, but it would be cut by about half during the rest of the day.

Under the all-day mobility plan, peak hour service would be cut by almost half, but service during the rest of the day would remain at current levels.

The final plan calls for leaving service in heavily-used corridors at current levels by cutting service on other routes.

Since then, these plans have been combined, blended and tweaked, but the underlying ideas and tradeoffs are the same.

Metro is also working to get the cuts labeled as suspended services, not route eliminations. That way, routes cut from the Seattle area will be allowed to return at the same level as opposed to under the 40-40-20 agreement for new routes, Lindmark said.

Lindmark said he doesn't know yet how Metro's future service cuts will affect the planned RapidRide corridor for Ballard.