Nov. 8, 2006
Sims thanks voters for supporting Transit Now
King County Executive Ron Sims today thanked voters for recognizing the value of transit service with their overwhelming support of Transit Now, the ballot measure that funds a 20 percent increase in Metro transit service. He pledged immediate actions so riders can begin seeing new service February 10.
"I pledge to get more bus service on the streets quickly to give people the expanded service they clearly want as demonstrated by the strong ‘yes' vote," said Executive Sims. "I am thankful for voter support as we deal with very difficult regional transportation issues."
Metro will move quickly to add new service beginning in February, even before Metro begins collecting the additional one-tenth sales tax revenues in June. Initial service investments will have to be made outside the peak period until new buses arrive. The first service changes will address overcrowding during busy off-peak periods and will add more service during the mid-day, evenings and weekends on the following routes:
Route 8 – Several trips would be added at the edges of the peak periods and would operate between Seattle Center and Capitol Hill, the most heavily-used segment of this route
Route 44 – Early evening service on weekdays would be revised (one trip added in each direction) to achieve a 15-minute frequency rather than the longer spacing between trips which now contributes to overloading and operational delays
Route 101 – Add two morning trips and one afternoon trip at the edges of the peak periods when ridership has started to outgrow the existing levels of service
Route 120 – Improve Saturday service frequencies from every 30 minutes to every 15 minutes through a greater part of the day
Route 140 – Improve midday weekday service frequencies from every 30 minutes to every 15 minutes
Route 194 – On Saturdays and Sundays, add two earlier morning trips from downtown to Sea-Tac Airport to better serve airport workers and travelers with early morning flights
Route 234 – Extend service later on weekdays (to 9 PM)
Route 245 – Increase frequency of Sunday service from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes through the main part of the day, similar to current Saturday levels of service
In a further effort to position itself to get more bus service on the street as quickly as possible, Metro developed a flexible bus purchasing process that will allow it to order a new fleet of articulated hybrid buses as early as next spring. By adding a contingency to its current contract to purchase up to 20 buses, the agency now has the flexibility to purchase the approximately 175 additional buses using the same contract to implement Transit Now services. That business strategy is expected to expedite the procurement process and significantly reduce the time it takes to acquire new buses.
Today, the Executive will submit an addendum to his proposed 2007 budget now being considered by the King County Council. In addition to the February service improvements, the revised budget will allow Metro to begin designing five bus rapid transit routes, including:
- Complete the Aurora Avenue North improvements between Shoreline and downtown Seattle;
- Ballard to the Seattle Center and downtown Seattle along 15th Avenue Northwest and West Mercer Place;
- West Seattle to downtown Seattle via the West Seattle Bridge;
- Bellevue to Redmond via Crossroads and Overlake; and
- Federal Way to Tukwila on Pacific Highway South (State Route 99).
Transit Now will also set money aside for innovative partnerships. Several agencies and businesses have already expressed interest in teaming up with Metro to provide transit service geared toward meeting the individualized needs of their residents and employees.