Transit Now

Last Tuesday, I joined King County Executive Ron Sims to announce the release of the Transit Now Initiative, a bold transit ballot proposal that would add up to 21 million more annual bus rides within 10 years.

Today in King County, our gas prices are rising. The number of working poor is increasing. Our employment base is growing. And the overall population in King County will soon top 2 million. Meanwhile, our bus service levels remain stagnant.

We aren’t able to add new bus routes and we struggle to increase the frequency on existing routes. We have a backlog of nearly 500 locations across the County that do not have bus shelters, forcing our riders to wait in the rain sometimes for close to an hour.

Without action this situation will only get worse.

A population equivalent to the Portland Metro area – 1.2 million people – will move to our region over the next 25 years. Our streets and highways will become more congested, and it will take more resources just to keep our existing buses running on time.

It is time we seriously examined the need for additional bus service in King County, and whether it makes sense to place a proposal on the ballot this fall for voters to consider.

Today, communities across King County are demanding more service. From Seattle to Des Moines to Covington, the citizens of King County want more bus service than they are getting today.

The proposed new bus routes in Transit Now are coordinated with current and proposed Sound Transit light rail, express bus and commuter rail investments to ensure a seamless transit system across King County. For example, Transit Now would fund a Rapid Ride high frequency bus route on Pacific Hwy connecting Sound Transit’s Federal Way Transit Center to Sound Transit’s SeaTac Airport Light Rail station. The new routes and expanded service will carry more people to and from Sound Transit Commuter Trains and Light Rail stations.

Transit Now will expand bus service to prepare King County for major road construction that will occur over the next 20 years. Replacing the 520 floating bridge, completing HOV lanes on 167 and fixing chokepoints on Interstate 405 will disrupt traffic flow in our region and require more bus service to move commuters to and from their homes and jobs.

As a representative of South King County, I am all too familiar with the substandard levels of bus service particularly in the suburban areas. Cities like Tukwila, SeaTac and Des Moines have made major investments in HOV lanes and other transit facilities, such as those along Highway 99, but still have limited transit service to fill those lanes. Cities like Kent and Renton have implemented major redevelopment efforts of their downtown cores to increase residential, commercial and employment densities, but have limited bus routes to serve new downtown residents, employees and increasing urban densities.

As the chair of the County Council’s Transportation Committee, I will tell you today that we will be having a full public process before any official decision is made on this proposal. This will involve the citizens of King County, transit riders, City officials and other key interests. And if we do decide to move forward with this proposal, the voters of King County will have the final say on whether or not to increase bus service.

I look forward to your input on this exciting proposal.

Julia Patterson
King County Councilmember - District 5

Read More:
Going my way -- Seattle Times, April 24, 2006
Transportation: Bus boost -- Seattle PI, April 19, 2006
Bus plan would add suburban service -- King County Journal, April 24, 2006

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