In just a week, bus riders will have a chance to tell the King County Council how a potential 17 percent cut in Metro transit service might affect them. The council’s Transportation, Economy and Environment Committee will listen to public comments at a hearing scheduled May 14.
If sustainable transit funding does not become available through efforts by the Legislature, an estimated $75 million annual revenue shortfall could force Metro to reduce bus service beginning in fall 2014. Metro has identified 65 routes at risk for elimination and 86 routes at risk for service reductions.
The potential cuts would create a transit system with fewer travel options and longer travel times, with buses that are more crowded and less reliable. These effects could cascade through the system as bus routes are eliminated and riders compete for space on other already-crowded routes.
So far, Metro has been able to avoid these cuts through $798 million in reforms, reductions and additional revenue – such as the implementation of the congestion reduction charge, a temporary $20 charge on vehicle licenses for two years. The fee ends in 2014, and without new sources of revenue, Metro must reduce service.
Open house and public hearing Tuesday, May 14
Union Station, 401 S. Jackson St., Seattle
- 3:30 p.m. open house
- 4-8 p.m. public testimony
Can’t attend? Submit your testimony online.
Metro wants to hear your story. Please share it online.
Thanks for the comments, Josh and MJ. Just a reminder the hearing is tomorrow (May 14) and if you can’t make it down to Union Station you can submit testimony online
@Metro-Matters-Team I would like to come to the hearing tomorrow. Is it possible to bring my dog. If not I submitted comments via the online form here: http://www.kingcounty.gov/council/testimony.aspx
I am a 62 year old disabled grandmother that travels every week from Port Townsend and back by ferry and the Seattle bus system to my son’s home in Seattle to help him and his wife with babysitting my granddaughter and doing a little housework so the can work. It is difficult for me to walk long distances or stand for long times, so decreasing options on the bus lines will severely impact me physically and it will impair my ability to help out my family. Please find a way not to cause longer wait times, fewer stops, and/or more overcrowding on the buses!
We have to speak up about these proposed cuts and get our legislators working to solve these financial problems. Put it on my ballot I will vote for a tax increase. Public transit is essential.
I ride the 304 daily. I know many people on the route who rely upon the service to get to and from work daily M-F. People who ride the route are young, old, blind, technologists, elderly and most important very reliant upon the route to make a living.
The neighborhood is also growing. We have 26 new homes being built at 137th and Meridian and a vibrant and diverse community, reliant upon public transit.
The 304 is an essential route to downtown, connecting a growing Richmond Beach community with Haller Lake and Downtown. The route is high speed and keeps many cars off the highway and downtown streets congestion free.
Speak out and let our leaders know they need to rise to the challenge and help us keep an essential 65 bus routes in service.
Call your legislator: http://www.leg.wa.gov/LIC/Pages/hotline.aspx
Educate: http://www.examiner.com/article/major-cuts-looming-for-king-county-metro-transit-65-routes-face-elimination
http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/news/release/2013/April/01MetroTransitPotentialCuts.aspx