Comments

1
In related news, Kevin Desmond looks exactly like what you'd expect of the General Manager of a regional transit agency.
2
What one wanted was for Desmond to deliver an outraged tirade directed at state lawmakers, in particular the Republican-controlled Senate, on behalf of people whose ability to move about Seattle is about to be fucked with.


I'm guessing you've never had a job from which you could be fired based on your behavior, Ansel. Otherwise you might realize just how stupid an idea that sounds, especially when your boss is a public official and you're going to do it at a press event.
3
In related news, can Seattle be it's own fucking county now? I'm fucking sick of subsidizing the fucking road for rednecks in fucking Renton to drive their fucking SUVs on, only to have fucking bus service fucking cut because they don't want to pay a fucking half-week's worth of gas for car tabs. Are we a fucking world-class city, or are we a fucking backwater with no public transportation? It's sure looking like the latter.

I realize all the "fuckings" aren't advancing my argument here, but I'm fucking pissed off. Fuck.
4
*its. Fuck.
5
(3) PREACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6
My bus I ride every day to downtown is on the chopping list. Probably gonna need to get a car now. Sucks.
7
Wait, wait, how is deleting 72 routes and reducing a further 84 a 16% cut? According to the metro website they have 220 bus & trolley routes... I mean based on that the eliminated routes alone would be a 33% reduction. What is my tired brain missing? (Oh... Is it based on ridership? That might make sense if all/most of the cut routes had exceedingly low ridership... but even then the numbers given don't seem to mesh with a 16% cut. Sigh.)
8
@3) They may not advance your position but they come from the heart and I find it difficult to disagree. It surely breaks my heart to think we could screw over Redmond and Kent with our selfish needs for good transit. Really. I mean that. I also have a bridge to sell you.
9
We don't like this.
10
"rednecks in fucking Renton"

you haven't been in Renton in a while my friend, that's where all the brown folks you've pushed out of Seattle with high taxes now live. The unlucky ones wind up in the Seattle/Renton taint, Skyway.

Did you miss? South King County, majority minority and middle class & poor overwhelmingly voted against Prop 1. Guess the poor coloreds weren't too impressed.
11
The first thing that needs to be done to fix Metro is to fire this guy.
12
@7

Some routes have more frequency than others. Many of the cut bus routes didn't have many hours assigned to them, which reduces he overall total cuts.
13
Oast, Fuck you. Are you going to pay for people to be able to move to seattle? The cost of living difference? Well?
14
@13 The suburbs defeated prop 1. "Fuck em" is equivalent to "give them precisely what they asked for."
16
@13 if you're not willing to pay for a transportation system capable of getting you to Seattle, then fucking stay out.
17
Oh fuck me. They cut the 66.
18
@15 LMFAO
19
Metro has NOT saved $800M. That figure is mostly comprised of raiding capital funds, raised fares, new taxes and deferred service. Saved implies they cut costs. Characterizing that number is like me saying I saved $200 because I paid with a credit card instead of cash. The amount actually "saved" is quite a bit less and small compared to the overall budget.
20
This election result means that the Seattle Times editorial board has much, much more political sway with voters than the Stranger. Hmmm… Perhaps more Stranger screaming headlines like "FUCKING SEATTLE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD!" would help things. But then, maybe not.
21
It's a negotiation.

Insist all the cuts go to empty bus rides in places that voted No.
22
@3 for the Fuck The Whiny Fucking Suburbs win!
23
The cuts in funding suck balls (This city needs an income tax). But why did Metro's funding get cut in the first place? I missed that.
24
Why go after the KC council?

Remember who didn't have the balls in the state legislature and vote against them in the state primary. It's an election year, people...some heads are on the chopping block, and it's time for new blood.

Of course, The Stranger rarely endorses anybody new. So, fuck it...stay the course!
25
Oh nos, how ya gonna punish the Eastside? Send us your shitty schools? Your gangbangers? Your drunk Indians? Your hobos? Send them by bus?
26
I suggest we have a series of "drive ins"... Scheduled days when every regular bus rider with a car drives that car to work. Make all the people who voted down their car tab tax increase feel the pain of their decision. Fuck them.
27
@26 Go ahead!
28
Goddamn fuck are you wingers stupid and lacking in any intuition. The very existence of public transit means you're going to get waste. But the over arching issue is "public" -- the city/community in which you live. It will always run at "a loss". Transit never runs in any city in order to make a profit -- transit runs because it is here in order to provide a service to the overall community. So, fuck the community. The self hate of you motherfuckers is, this time, at long last (until the next time comes along) something to behold. A total testament to not anger, but just the lack of understanding about the important services large metropolitan areas need and will always not be for profit.
29
The civil servants will do what they always do. Try to make the system work the best they can with the resources they have. Hopefully they will be able to come up with some ideas to lessen the pain. But it looks pretty painful for a lot of people right now.
30
It's kinda hard to get more money out of the public when bus drivers are making 6 figure salaries. How about Metro starts looking at cutting their 3rd highest in the nation costs? Hmmm?
31
That's not Kevin Desmond. That's former Seattle School Board President Steve Sundquist. I knew he wanted to keep a civic job despite being tossed out of office.
32
@30 - How about you stop lying first, hmm?
33
@30, why are you commenting on an article that you obviously didn't read?

@3: you could have thrown in a few more "fucks" as far as I'm concerned.

@29, yes, they will, and in the process having to contend with the stupid public who thinks they should just go out of business until they somehow learn how to make a community transit system run like one of Meinert's or Douglas's many restaurants.

I hope some of you "conservatives" (ironic term since you don't really want to conserve anything) get your buses cut. Because I'm sure some of you ride the bus.
34
Well,,lots of bitching, no solutions and you think this cut is bad, just wait to see what gets cut from Metro come 2016! And you all know more draconian cuts are heading our way.

Soon Seattle will be envious of Spokane Transit Authority.
35
@34 The solution is to properly fund transit. You can't squeeze blood from a stone.
36
the solution is an irrelevant GOP minority in the state legislatures, and tim eyman moving to bunkerville nevada.

anyone voting against $60 tabs doesn't remember the MVET.
37
LMFAO @ all the crybaby seattle liberals, stomping their feet and shouting "fuck!" because they didnt get their way.

Funny how none of you simply dont suggest that bus riders actually pay their "fare" share.

luvn it.
38
There are a couple bits of data that might be useful to this discussion. First, rural counties in Washington State are net tax recipients, meaning they get more in services than they pay in taxes. King County pays $6B in state taxes and only receives $3.8B in state services. Unlike King County, most other counties in Washington State are receiving more in state services than they pay in taxes:

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsno…

In addition, it is also true that urban areas generate most of the state's economic activity. The Department of Commerce says Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue combined economic activity is $259B of the state's $325B GDP, so 80% of GDP:

https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regiona…
https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regiona…
39
Obviously not enough people read the Stranger or this would have passed with an overwhelming majority.
40

The 150 wasn't Changed or Deleted.

It was Updated!
41
Honestly, Why aren't they discussing fare hikes as a last resort/stopgap? No authority to change rates?

I totally realize that doing this will mainly affect the poorer residents who rely on bus service. However, my cynical view of politics tell me that if routes are cancelled, it's going to be routes used by lower income people more than those used by commuters.

It's also possible to raise rates in a more progressive manner targeting routes with more wealthier commuters. In addition, you can then examine other ways of softening the economic blow on the poorer city residents (a minimum wage hike would help a lot, just saying).
42
@41 Our rates are already 25% higher than in San Francisco, land of everything being too fucking expensive. If you raise the bus fare the $2 it's going to cost to make up for the shortfall (and live in the fantasy land where doubling fare isn't going to quarter ridership) you might as well paint the Amazon logo on the side of the bus and start protesting King County Metro instead of the Microsoft Connector.
43
Last time I checked, the state and federally funded ROADS don't run "at a profit", and are wholly subsidized by taxes... just so people can drive their private cars wherever they want.

Tarmac doesn't magically emerge out of the ground, and the roads have to be maintained... with TAXES. So does the bus system, WHICH MAKES THE ROADS BETTER TO DRIVE ON, BECAUSE LESS CARS.

If my bus is cut --and it looks like it will be-- well. Fuck the state legislature Republican simpletons who caused this problem.

Goodbye world-class city, hello Petty Republicanistan.
44
@38

hey dipshit geekboy - rural counties have no say or vote on matters involving METRO TRANSIT- which, you know, is like the subject at hand.

nice try, but you lose.

now - go fuck yourself and your crossdressing boyfriend.
45
When do we take a good hard look at Metro salaries as a cost saving measure?

Metro has 50 drivers making over $100K a year, 400+ more aren't far behind. ATU local 587 recently voted no to a 1 year automatic pay raise freeze, which would have saved some Metro service.

Top pay scale drivers are getting $30+ an hour. Many of the drivers are at top scale, as it only takes 5 years for them to get there. Average full time driver salary is $66k a year, with overtime pushing many of them well over that as stated. Not to mention the dozen Metro mechanics making $100K+ per year.

Enough is enough Metro. You have raised, and raised, and raised our taxes - promising more service in each instance. What has actually occurred? Service has declined, while Metro salaries have increased.

No more money for you greedy union fuckbags, or the incompetent Metro leadership. You were given money to use for service, you chose to use it to give yourselves raises.

It is time to decertify ATU local 587.
46
@45: you're ridiculous.

I absolutely want my driver, conducting an articulated leviathan through city traffic, to be paid a decent wage--whether i am in the belly of the beast or one of the swarm of gnats driving alongside. Ditto for the mechanics who keep these things as safe as they can be.

It is far from easy to drive a bus safely and CONSISTENTLY day in, day out, year over year. This is not something just anyone can do.

And 60 or 100k simply is not that much money anymore. It is solidly middle class. Our experienced teachers, cops, bankers, cabinetmakers, and yes, bus drivers and mechanics SHOULD be making 80~120k. How else can they be expected to live here, let alone raise families here?

50k might have been a good salary in the 1970s. Times have changed. Open your eyes and look around you.
47
@46

You sound like an ATU member.

So your plan is that we'll have a bunch of highly paid drivers, who receive automatic raises, driving our remaining 20 or so bus routes. Great plan.

You might want to actually look into Metro salary increase vs inflation and productivity.

Frankly, anyone can drive a bus. Metro drivers are in the top 5 nationwide (listed as 3rd most highly paid in one study, 5th in another, we'll go with 5th). So, do we get superior service from our highly paid drivers? No, we get bus route cancellations and service declines, despite all the funding increases Metro has received.

You're right in one thing only, times have changed - and it's time to stop paying $30 an hour for a $18 an hour job on the public dime.
48
60K is solidly middle class, 100K is upper middle class and very well off. 50K may not make you very well off but its a decent living.

49
@47
I think you are conflating driver performance with system performance. If canceled routes and declining service are the problems you have, you dont have a problem with the drivers. Driver performance should be judged by how accurately they meet their schedules, or their accident rates, etc. Just because they are the public point of contact does not make them responsible for everything happening with Metro.
Wages are negotiated. Contracts are negotiated. This is the way it is everywhere in America, in every industry, as long as the employee has enough leverage to even open a negotiation. Why should this not be true for bus drivers when its true for Amazon employees?
50
@13, fuck you, you piece of crap. Have a conversation with your neighbors as to why they voted this down, if you have that much sand in your vagina.
51
@49 "Wages are negotiated. Contracts are negotiated."

As I said, ATU voted no on a 1 year wage freeze that would have spared the routes currently on the chopping block. I blame the ATU, and I blame Metro management. That seems pretty reasonable to me.

"If canceled routes and declining service are the problems you have, you dont have a problem with the drivers. "

Again, yes I do indeed. The union is the workers. The workers are the union. What one does, the other bears blame for.

Close on 500 drivers making 100K a year via automatic raises to $30 an hour + tons of overtime, and a union that fails to cooperate to save entire routes vs a much more reasonable top rate of $18 an hour, and the elimination of OT via hiring. Would that result in (massive) cost savings to taxpayers? Yup. Routes intact? Yup. Metro management on the ball enough to get there? Nope. ATU local 587 willing to come to terms? Nope.

Time to axe Metro management and ATU 587 in the public interest? Yup.

And please remind me, how are Amazon employees taxpayer funded? Do we have Amazon levies or bond issues? Do you find it somehow unreasonable to hold publically funded businesses to the highest possible standards of accountability?

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.