1, 2 EX, 2, 3, 4, 5 EX, 5, 7 EX, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 EX, 15, 16, 17 EX, 17, 18, 18 EX, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 26 EX, 27, 28, 28 EX, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 48, 51, 53, 54, 54 EX, 55, 56 EX, 56, 57, 66 EX, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 79, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 99, 101, 106, 107, 110, 111, 114, 116 EX, 118 EX, 118, 119 EX, 119, 121, 123, 124, 125, 128, 129, 131, 132, 133, 134, 139, 140, 148, 149, 150, 152, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 161, 162, 166, 167, 169, 173, 175, 177, 179, 180, 181, 182, 186, 187, 192, 196, 197, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205 EX, 209, 210, 211, 213, 214, 219, 221, 222, 224, 230, 232, 233, 234, 236, 237, 238, 240, 242, 243, 245, 246, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 255, 257, 260, 265, 268, 269, 271, 277, 280, 308, 311, 312, 331, 342, 345, 346, 347, 348, 355, 358, 372, 373, 901, 903, 908, 909, 910, 912, 913, 914, 916, 917, 918, 919, 925, 927, 930, 935.

These are the Metro bus routes that are slated for reduced service beginning next year—the ones in bold eliminated entirely—due to a projected $60 million shortfall. Or, the county could approve the temporary, two-year, $20 car tab fee coming before the council later this month. You’d think it would be a no-brainer. You’d think wrong.

119 replies on “Metro by the Numbers”

  1. Wow if this goes through, Metro is doomed. Shit already runs late, doesn’t work in the snow, etc., etc. Already cut service last year (or year before?). Fewer/crappier routes mean fewer riders, means fewer routes next funding cycle, etc. Doomed.

  2. but my daughter uses the bus to get to work and shop and everything!!!! and my two grandson’s use it to get to and from school and their dad’s house!!! what are you people thinking? that they should hitch a ride with strangers?

  4. @101 – writing to the county council reps would be more useful than the city councilmembers. KC Metro is a county service, not city of Seattle.

  5. @100 Subsidized fuel production doesn’t aid buses? Last I saw, many metro buses were gas, and many were electric.

    Again, I repeat, SDOT ONLY gets $158million of its budget from non-directly-driver related taxes and fees. This INCLUDES federal highway grants.

    WSDOT gets about half of its budget from user fees. The rest comes from other sources, including FEDERAL HIGHWAY GRANTS. This is about $630million, if you divide by county population to state population.

    So, $788million vs $419million…except…Sound Transit, Sounder, and other “local” transit services are not included in the $419million either.

    Also, stop conflating tax breaks and subsidies. The tax breaks isn’t money going out. It’s money NOT COMING IN. A subsidy IS money going out. Conflating the two makes you sound dumber than you probably are. The gas giants do get subsidized as well.

    And, if we really wanted to be dickish about it, we would also have to take into account all the taxes that come in from salaries that come in from both sides of the water: salaries to run the Metro and salaries from construction workers/car salesmen/gas station attendants/fuel drivers/etc, all of of which recycle in. This argument also includes the number of jobs created by the “free ride” you’re purporting drivers get.

    Really, the total point is, you’re nuts if you think that drivers get more than transit. Before, the toll, they got subsidized at fairly equal rates by non-user taxes and fees. But, The Stranger and other liberals seem to believe that roads get subsidized substantially MORE than transit, which is simply not the case. And, with this false belief — fed to them by corporations like the RAND corporation, who is trying to rebuild society with urban density with no regard to the middle- and lower-class workers trying to make ends meet — they decided that the workers need to pay for their bridge repairs. And, with that action, I say…then pay for your own budget shortfalls.

    P.S. Bringing in other states and cites does absolutely nothing for your argument since we’re explicitly talking about local and state transit.

  6. @105 Yes. I wrote to Seattle City Council, and was told they had nothing to do with these new tab fees and to write to the King County Council. So, I did.

  9. Or, they could remove the Ride Free Zone…

    I’m surprised to see 15X bold. That bus is always standing room-only packed. Just another absurdity to add to the list. One more for that list: guess I better get a car.

  10. Or, they could remove the Ride Free Zone…

    I’m surprised to see 15X bold. That bus is always standing room-only packed. Just another absurdity to add to the list. One more for that list: guess I better get a car.

  11. The Ride Free Zone is unnecessary, except in the light rail/bus tunnel.

    If they have problems with capacity not being used in the bus tunnel, then restrict the ride free zone to the Tunnel only.

  13. Boy, you guys have fallen for the ‘pay or we’ll shoot the puppy’ scare tactic.

    Can’t any of you afford cars? Seriously, wtf?

  14. To the morons who think it is wrong for car owners to subsidize transit, here’s how the math works. You pay an extra $20 a year on your tabs, your commute doesn’t get any worse, because us bus riders are riding 70 to a bus, and not adding 70 cars in front of you in your morning commute. Raise my bus pas $5 a month, that’s $60 a year. Since my company gives me a free parking space downtown, but no subsidy on my bus pass, and my bus service has been cut, so that commute is even less convenient, so I start driving every day. Keep in mind, a lot of us on those buses will be paying that license fee. Rush hour buses are mostly people heading in to work, and a lot of us have cars too.

    Still, as a lot of people have pointed out, had our revenue system not been eviscerated by people who don’t want to pay their fair share of the taxes, we wouldn’t have to raise all these other taxes and fees to make up for it.

  15. Metro needs two things:
    1. stop gap spending to make up for King County’s lack of planning and leadership during this fiscal crisis – vote for the frickin’ car tab increase already, it’s a cheap fix for the price.

    2. to restructure the system to be more effective — we have one of the most expensive bus systems in the world, with 25% zombie buses (dead end routes), many buses overcrowded, and many other mostly empty. It’s nearly impossible to use the system without an expensive smart phone and there is lousy connectivity with light rail, commuter rail, ferries, and streetcars. The system is expensive, yet not very cost effective, in some places it costs over $30 per boarding.

  16. @115 Luckily you’re not going to add to my commute any, and the bus that would add to my commute has no chance of being on the list. So, I’m in the clear.

    Also, if somebody raises your bus pass $5 or $10 /mth, but doesn’t cut your route, would you still drive or would you continue taking the bus? You made the unlikely scenario of raising bus fares AND cutting routes.

  17. Hey everyone, get off your butts and start advocating for the change you want! Take these steps:

    1. Attend public testimony meetings: Tue eve 6pm 516 3rd Ave 10th Fl. Seattle http://metro.kingcounty.gov/am/future/

    2. Submit written testimony about what a dumb idea it is to resist paying $20 (less than 6 gallons of gas!) to have service you could use when gas gets too expensive. Also about how much we rely on these routes: http://metro.kingcounty.gov/am/future/

    3. Sign & circulate this petition to everyone you know: http://signon.org/s/Vr8mP4

    Politicians won’t have guts & do the right thing unless you make some noise! Get on it now, or you’ll be doing a lot of walking in the rain this winter.

  18. this is bullshit. there is no way Metro is going to eliminate those bus routes. scare tactics as someone said earlier.

    Stranger, i love you, but you’re killing yourself on the credibility issue.

    i really hope you get your shit together so i can actually cite you as a reference.

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