News
Seattle Residents Most Likely to Support Tolls, License Fee
In a survey of Seattle residents (that's residents, not likely voters), respondents were most likely to support a vehicle license fee or tolls to pay for transportation improvements. As we've reported, the city will likely put an $80 transportation fee on the ballot in November; that fee would pay for transit infrastructure, bike lanes, sidewalks, and road maintenance. The city council's transportation committee discussed that potential ballot measure, along with how the city plans to spend the $20 vehicle license fee the council has already passed, this morning.
In the poll, 39.4 percent expressed support for a license fee (6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 7), and 34.4 percent said they would support a toll or other user fee. More than half (52.5 percent) said they would generally support a new transportation fee, even knowing that it would be on top of the 2007 voter-approved Bridging the Gap levy, which has failed to produce enough revenue to pay for all the projects it promised. Additionally, 62.8 percent of respondents said they would support renewing the Bridging the Gap levy when it comes up again in 2015 (although 81.5 percent weren't aware it would be up for renewal).
More than a quarter (25.9 percent) of all respondents said "traffic/congestion" was one of the two most important issues facing Seattle, followed by "potholes/fixing streets" (14.2 percent), "inadequate transit/transportation" (13 percent), the viaduct (12.7 percent), and education (11.6 percent). More people (30 percent) agreed that maintaining the existing transportation system is more important than building new projects (14.9 percent), while 53.8 percent said both were equally important. And the least popular improvements (those that ranked between 1 and 2 on a 1-7 scale of importance) were extending the streetcar network (34 percent said the streetcar was not important), improving bike lanes (27.1 percent "not important"), adding bike lanes (26.8 "not important"), and new sidewalks (26.6 percent "not important.")
Read the summary here, and the whole survey here.
In the poll, 39.4 percent expressed support for a license fee (6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 7), and 34.4 percent said they would support a toll or other user fee. More than half (52.5 percent) said they would generally support a new transportation fee, even knowing that it would be on top of the 2007 voter-approved Bridging the Gap levy, which has failed to produce enough revenue to pay for all the projects it promised. Additionally, 62.8 percent of respondents said they would support renewing the Bridging the Gap levy when it comes up again in 2015 (although 81.5 percent weren't aware it would be up for renewal).
More than a quarter (25.9 percent) of all respondents said "traffic/congestion" was one of the two most important issues facing Seattle, followed by "potholes/fixing streets" (14.2 percent), "inadequate transit/transportation" (13 percent), the viaduct (12.7 percent), and education (11.6 percent). More people (30 percent) agreed that maintaining the existing transportation system is more important than building new projects (14.9 percent), while 53.8 percent said both were equally important. And the least popular improvements (those that ranked between 1 and 2 on a 1-7 scale of importance) were extending the streetcar network (34 percent said the streetcar was not important), improving bike lanes (27.1 percent "not important"), adding bike lanes (26.8 "not important"), and new sidewalks (26.6 percent "not important.")
Read the summary here, and the whole survey here.
