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Metro teams up to deliver more Transit Now service

In a first-of-its-kind public-private investment aimed at keeping people moving, King County Executive Ron Sims is recommending 16 innovative partnerships to bring more Metro Transit bus service to communities stretching from Auburn to Shoreline.

Metro route 180

The proposed $14.5 million annual investment marks the first time cities and major businesses all across the county have come together on such a large scale to help fund major transit expansion. Together, the partnerships will add more than 132,000 service hours to support new transit routes and more frequent trips on more than 25 existing routes to better serve commuters.

After a comprehensive competitive process, Executive Sims is recommending partnership service agreements for Seattle, Auburn, Bellevue, Federal Way, Issaquah, Kent, Redmond, Renton, Sammamish, and Shoreline.

These partnerships follow an initial service agreement last year with Children's Medical Center. That partnership is delivering expanded service on two bus routes serving Northeast Seattle residents and Medical Center employees, patients and visitors.

Recognizing the unique and individual transit needs of cities and businesses, Metro created the Service Partnership Program to build on the countywide investments promised as part of Transit Now, a 10-year service expansion plan approved by voters in 2006. The proposals not only invest in more transit service to serve rapidly expanding employment centers, they will also allow Metro to stretch its Transit Now dollars even further to better serve the public.

Metro route 14

Metro is recommending that the partnerships be phased in over a six-year period beginning this fall. Fourteen proposals involve direct contributions from partners offering to pay at least one-third of the cost of the new service, while two proposals come from cities willing to invest in street improvements that boost transit speeds by at least 10 percent. When all the partnerships are in place, Metro will invest $9 million annually with its partners contributing a total of $4 million.

If the county council approves the agreements, Metro will add service on 25 existing routes in the coming years. Among the first projects are:

• More service on nine Seattle routes serving the Central District, Capital Hill, Wallingford and Fremont;

• A partnership between the cities of Sammamish, Redmond, Issaquah and the Microsoft corporation to increase weekday peak service on the Route 269 serving neighborhoods from Bear Creek to Issaquah;

• A partnership between the cities of Renton and Kent to add midday service on the Route 153; and

• A partnership between the city of Redmond and Microsoft to continue the Route 644 between Kenmore and Redmond after state funding runs out in September 2008.

In addition to more frequent service, Metro is recommending four new bus routes be created in the coming years, including: a new Route 913 connecting residential areas with downtown Kent; a new shuttle providing peak-hour service between Lakeland Hills and Auburn Station; a new circulator in downtown Bellevue; and a new route connecting Seattle’s First Hill to Colman Dock, King Street Station, and International District Station.

More information about Transit Now and the partnership proposals are available online.

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Updated: February 25, 2008

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