We must vote to fund the city's buses. No serious debate to be had here, folks. Through the fog of Metro's budget ups and downs and the bullshit the Seattle Times keeps spewing like your confused drunk uncle, that's still clear as day. Seattle is the fastest-growing large city in the country. Ridership is higher than ever and growing. Buses reduce traffic and are great for the planet. Duh, duh, and duh! Fundamentally, buses provide everyone with a way to go places—to meet friends, to get to work, to be part of the fabric of the city. Seattle becomes a more inhospitable place with even more nightmarish traffic if we don't pass this proposition, which would raise $45 million in much-needed revenue for Metro to expand and improve Seattle bus routes.

That said: We wish we could be even more gung ho about this. Prop. 1 is a regressive tax (a 0.1 percent sales tax increase plus a $20 hike in car tab fees), meaning it hits the poor much harder than it does the wealthy. In September, the King County Council voted to suspend a slate of dramatic cuts to Metro service scheduled for next year. That means that suddenly, Prop. 1 became about strengthening Metro beyond existing service levels, rather than stopping the erosion of bus service. The sky-is-falling, Metro-is-having-a-heart-attack rhetoric from the coalition pushing for this measure—from the mayor and city council to transportation nonprofits—now seems a little disingenuous. These groups need to stop taking Seattle's willingness to tax itself for granted.

Bottom line, however: You like having buses in Seattle? Want them to be better? You want this measure to pass. It's a no-fucking-brainer. Vote yes.

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