Opinion
The People Have Spoken
On Monday, the King County Council will vote on a proposed $20 vehicle license fee to fund bus service. Without the money—$50 million over two years—Metro service would have to be cut 17 percent, or 600,000 hours worth annually.
The council can either approve the fee themselves with a two-thirds vote or send it to a vote of the people, which also now requires six votes because they missed their deadline. Follow Cola coverage of the issue starting here.—Eds.
The people have spoken on the issue of preserving Metro transit service by enacting a temporary $20 congestion reduction charge on vehicles in King County. As Chair of the King County Council’s Transportation, Economy, and Environment Committee, I spent the better part of my summer listening to what people think about the proposal to slash Metro service by 17 percent in response to the recession-driven drop in the sales tax revenues. The loud and clear message from those who attended public hearings in record numbers and wrote by the thousands is that deep transit service cuts would be devastating and must be avoided.
Cutting our transit system by 17 percent would take Metro back to the size it was in 1996, moving us
in the opposite direction of accommodating job growth and improving mobility. Meanwhile, buses are packed with ridership up five percent since last year.
Nearly 5,000 people provided written or verbal testimony to the King County Council on this issue. On hot summer evenings, approximately 850 people attended three public hearings in Kirkland, Seattle, and Burien. And that tally only reflects those who made it through the door; at the Seattle hearing security estimates that up to 1000 people stood in a line that stretched around the block waiting to pass through security to enter the building. Civic groups presented the council with a petition signed by over 10,000 county residents. The overwhelming feedback we’ve received is that the King County Council should enact the congestion reduction charge to preserve transit service.
Collection of the charge is limited to two years while my colleagues and I work with Olympia on a permanent solution for sustainably funding transit. The public will have a chance to weigh in on that long term solution. In the mean time, we do not need to spend $700,000--$800,000 putting the congestion reduction charge on the ballot to ask people what they think. They have spoken, and their message is unmistakably clear. [pullquote]We do not need to spend $700,000--$800,000 putting the congestion reduction charge on the ballot to ask people what they think. They have spoken, and their message is unmistakably clear.[/pullquote]
Some have dismissed the individuals who have called, testified, and written as the “transit lobby.” But people speaking out in favor of transit are not lobbyists, they’re ordinary and diverse citizens—people with disabilities, students, elderly, workers, employers, social service providers, and mothers. They come from all parts of the county—from Shoreline to Federal Way and Seattle to Issaquah.
Many take the bus because they have no other option. They would be severed from their communities and jobs without accessible transit service. Others would get back in their cars if transit became less convenient. Metro estimates the proposed 17 percent cut would add nine million annual car trips to our roads. That means more congestion, more greenhouse gases, and more toxic runoff in Puget Sound.
I do not take $20 lightly in these times, but weighing the high cost of transit cuts to our economy, mobility, environment, and vulnerable populations, $20 is affordable. Transit cuts are not.
To ensure people are getting the most for their money, we’ve done extensive work over the last three years to make Metro more efficient. Metro faced a $1.2 billion shortfall between revenues they’re collecting and what is needed to sustain our transit system between 2009 and 2015. Efficiencies, reforms, fare increases, layoffs, COLA givebacks, and tapping reserves have allowed Metro to close $900 million of that $1.2 billion problem.
We conducted a performance audit and implemented the findings. We sought the input of our Regional Transit Task Force to do away with the outdated 40-40-20 policy and reform how we allocate service to get rid of empty buses and emphasize productivity and transparency.
Transit operators stepped up and did their part with COLA givebacks and other concessions that will save $17 million annually. Bus riders are paying 80 percent higher fares, which translates to an additional $500 annually per daily rider.
These actions helped ensure $20 is fair to ask of those sharing the road with Metro buses. It's critical, two year emergency funding the people of King County are supporting in droves.
King County Council Member Larry Phillips chairs the council's transportation committee.
The council can either approve the fee themselves with a two-thirds vote or send it to a vote of the people, which also now requires six votes because they missed their deadline. Follow Cola coverage of the issue starting here.—Eds.
The people have spoken on the issue of preserving Metro transit service by enacting a temporary $20 congestion reduction charge on vehicles in King County. As Chair of the King County Council’s Transportation, Economy, and Environment Committee, I spent the better part of my summer listening to what people think about the proposal to slash Metro service by 17 percent in response to the recession-driven drop in the sales tax revenues. The loud and clear message from those who attended public hearings in record numbers and wrote by the thousands is that deep transit service cuts would be devastating and must be avoided.
Cutting our transit system by 17 percent would take Metro back to the size it was in 1996, moving us
in the opposite direction of accommodating job growth and improving mobility. Meanwhile, buses are packed with ridership up five percent since last year.
Nearly 5,000 people provided written or verbal testimony to the King County Council on this issue. On hot summer evenings, approximately 850 people attended three public hearings in Kirkland, Seattle, and Burien. And that tally only reflects those who made it through the door; at the Seattle hearing security estimates that up to 1000 people stood in a line that stretched around the block waiting to pass through security to enter the building. Civic groups presented the council with a petition signed by over 10,000 county residents. The overwhelming feedback we’ve received is that the King County Council should enact the congestion reduction charge to preserve transit service.
Collection of the charge is limited to two years while my colleagues and I work with Olympia on a permanent solution for sustainably funding transit. The public will have a chance to weigh in on that long term solution. In the mean time, we do not need to spend $700,000--$800,000 putting the congestion reduction charge on the ballot to ask people what they think. They have spoken, and their message is unmistakably clear. [pullquote]We do not need to spend $700,000--$800,000 putting the congestion reduction charge on the ballot to ask people what they think. They have spoken, and their message is unmistakably clear.[/pullquote]
Some have dismissed the individuals who have called, testified, and written as the “transit lobby.” But people speaking out in favor of transit are not lobbyists, they’re ordinary and diverse citizens—people with disabilities, students, elderly, workers, employers, social service providers, and mothers. They come from all parts of the county—from Shoreline to Federal Way and Seattle to Issaquah.
Many take the bus because they have no other option. They would be severed from their communities and jobs without accessible transit service. Others would get back in their cars if transit became less convenient. Metro estimates the proposed 17 percent cut would add nine million annual car trips to our roads. That means more congestion, more greenhouse gases, and more toxic runoff in Puget Sound.
I do not take $20 lightly in these times, but weighing the high cost of transit cuts to our economy, mobility, environment, and vulnerable populations, $20 is affordable. Transit cuts are not.
To ensure people are getting the most for their money, we’ve done extensive work over the last three years to make Metro more efficient. Metro faced a $1.2 billion shortfall between revenues they’re collecting and what is needed to sustain our transit system between 2009 and 2015. Efficiencies, reforms, fare increases, layoffs, COLA givebacks, and tapping reserves have allowed Metro to close $900 million of that $1.2 billion problem.
We conducted a performance audit and implemented the findings. We sought the input of our Regional Transit Task Force to do away with the outdated 40-40-20 policy and reform how we allocate service to get rid of empty buses and emphasize productivity and transparency.
Transit operators stepped up and did their part with COLA givebacks and other concessions that will save $17 million annually. Bus riders are paying 80 percent higher fares, which translates to an additional $500 annually per daily rider.
These actions helped ensure $20 is fair to ask of those sharing the road with Metro buses. It's critical, two year emergency funding the people of King County are supporting in droves.
King County Council Member Larry Phillips chairs the council's transportation committee.
