How people get around, as well as how much it costs, was the topic of discussion at a Metropolitan King County Council town hall meeting recently.
County Council member Reagan Dunn, whose Ninth District includes Renton, said public transit is an important issue, “especially (for) the rapidly developing areas around here.”
“I chose Covington for this town hall meeting and this topic because I think it’s emblematic of the problems the residents of this district face,” Dunn said. “The roads are clogged and the bus service is almost non-existent. Where you do find bus service, it’s usually peak-hour only.”
Dunn said the idea for the town hall was to hear from residents of southeast King County about what can be done to make transit service better.
Covington Mayor Margaret Harto said plans for extended bus routes and increased frequency are good, but “those improvements only address a small number of needs.”
The improvements Harto mentioned come as a result of the Transit Now, 1 percent sales tax increase that was approved by voters countywide in 2006.
Victor Obeso, service development manager for Metro, said there’s been about a 20 percent increase in the past year or so in ridership in the southeast part of the county.
“One of the challenges we face with this rapid rate of ridership growth is crowding,” Obeso said. “A lot of people using our transit system are experiencing crowded buses, and we’re straining to keep up with the demand that we have.”
Through Transit Now, Metro has been working to keep pace, he said.
“There are 30 corridors throughout King County where we’re looking to increase frequency,” Obeso said. “In South King County, we’ve made several improvements over the last year. Our system is very oriented north-south, and we’ve received requests for increasing our services operating east-west. We’ve made additional improvements, with more to come in the fall.”
The Transit Now program is spread over 10 years, though, and Metro plans to expand and change routes and the frequency of bus runs over the next eight years.
For example, Route 149, which runs on State Route 169 from Renton to Maple Valley, will be extended to Enumclaw and run every 90 minutes instead of every two hours starting in 2009.
Route 168 will also be extended to Four Corners, with buses leaving every 30 minutes.
Metro general manager Kevin Desmond said the improvements “come none too soon, and perhaps we can say there’s still not enough. Coupled with that increased demand comes increased fuel costs. It’s been a decade-long issue that has really come to the forefront this year.”
For fuel costs for Metro for this year, the county budgeted for $2.60 a gallon for diesel. The price has surged above $4 a gallon. Add to that the weakening economy and a decline in sales tax revenue — a revenue source Desmond said could be described as volatile at best — Metro officials are facing a “perfect storm” in terms of cash flow, given it gets 61 percent of its funding from sales tax.
The options of what to do about a $70 million shortfall projected through at least 2010 include increasing revenue, reducing expenses and capital spending, using cash reserves and seeking external relief from the state or federal government.
