Thanks to reforms, efficiencies and costs savings, fewer bus cuts will be needed for Metro Transit than previously estimated. The new total was announced today (Sept. 17) putting the figure at 400,000 service hours instead of 550,000 hours. The details are part of King County Executive Dow Constantine’s proposed two-year Metro Transit budget that will be delivered to the County Council on Sept. 22.
Cutting transit by 11 percent instead of 16 percent is still going to affect a lot of riders. Rounds 1 and 2 of cuts will mean a loss of an estimated 5 million rides a year out of the roughly 118 million rides Metro provides. General Manager Kevin Desmond spoke with reporters Sept. 17 to explain the details.
You can watch video highlights (part 1 or part 2) from the announcement, or the entire 33 minutes.
There’s much more information on Metro’s website, including:
- Sept. 27 service cuts: 28 deleted routes and 13 revised or reduced routes
- Proposed February 2015 service cuts: 16 deleted routes, 32 reduced or revised routes
- Fact sheets and explanations about our funding, reforms and reduced costs
- County Executive Dow Constantine news release
