Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond spoke March 1 about the potential for service cuts starting in fall 2014 due to a $75 million annual revenue shortfall looming in Metro’s future.
As temporary funding sources are set to expire, King County Metro Transit is working with elected officials to identify sustainable funding to continue to provide transit service to Seattle and King County. We’re working closely with elected officials in Olympia to explain how important transit service is to our riders, the economy and as an alternative to driving in traffic.
More information about King County’s transportation funding challenge is online http://ow.ly/ibvO2 , live tweets captured on Storify and the presentation posted on YouTube #MetroFuture
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This agency needs to be monitored.This is what happens when there is no oversight.I don’t know any state whose transportation system is as poorly managed as ours.The DOT is another mismanaged entity.Honestly the people are tired of the flim flam.
metro already reduced a lot of routes on buses. I take several buses just to get to downtown during different days. one thing I would like to comment on is that I noticed transit supervisors are getting paid to stay in their “transit supervisor vans/econovans” while the engine is running at a park and ride. I really don’t know why they don’t get questioned about waste! also metro king county also provides a daily commuter (white Honda insight or similar) for the bus operator when they switch out drivers. funding for these services for being a metro employee should be removed. i would consider that a luxury than a perk at work. budget shortfall funding is nonsense. Driver licenses and car tabs have increased and metro is still on having problems. does president Obama have to do a bailout for metro? if you ask me, metro might as well shut down for good and go bankrupt. there’s no sense in helping something that can’t even help itself.
The leadership officials of Metro need to do a better job attaining adequate funding. I understand cost of operations has risen and state and county budgets are tight. Good leaders are able to bring people together to solve a problem. Many of the people most affected by the proposed transit cuts are likely not involved in politics and may lack access to technology needed for blogs and public forums such as this. I question Metro’s reasoning for already planning transit cuts rather than allocating all available resources to raise the funds needed to maintain service. With the growth of King County metro should be planning future route enchantments and more off-peak hour routes rather than preparing for route cuts. The leadership of metro needs to do what it takes in order to get the budget needed to serve the people of King County, even if that means stepping down so a more capable leader can get the job done. Given how bad traffic is and the already high cost of living, transit cuts shouldn’t even be on the table. Part of the onus is on the people of King County to demand more of their elected officials, but those who are paid to maintain the transit system have a bigger responsibility and they are not getting the job done.