George Takei? What?

Is there anything doesn't just keep increasing in costs? Over and over, we raise the funding for things as it costs more to operate them. Sadly decreasing tax-revenue for programs does not make them more lean-and-mean, like a business would, instead the affected services are cut.

I know something that doesn't increase every year. Our wages. But everything else does.

@2 labor and fuel costs always outpace inflation as a whole... and those two items make up most of Metro's budget.

They've managed to cut 160 millon/year from the budget over the past few years by doing computer optimizations on scheduling, stop-diets on crouded, slow moving routes, and general staffing cuts. But on-time reliabilty has gotten terrible - cutting resources in the face of ever increasing ridership doesn't go well.

@2, @3 Read up Baumol's Cost Disease for why Metro's labor costs outpace inflation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol%27s_…. It takes the same number of drivers and mechanics today as before. When you combine this with higher than historical fuel prices and higher health care costs (the Baumol phenomenon is also very relevant there), the price of services like transit is going to rise faster than inflation.

You shouldn't need to vote on something to tell right wing assholes to go fuck themselves, just do it! Honestly, I've done it a few times in my life and it felt great!

Voting yes on Prop 1 is a tacit approval for metro to come back every 1 - 3 years asking for another taxpayer funded financial bailout.

Where the fuck is all my money going!? Why won't they raise the cost of a ticket, or charge for distance like in so many other countries? A ride from Edmonds to Seattle doesn't cost the same as a ride from University to Wall.
I will vote yes, but this is killing me. Why the fuck do I have to subsidize everything? Where the hell is the money from street parking, buses, car tabs and gas tax (not to mention the bullshit that is the emissions game) going!?

How about contracting out the operation of the bus agencies, especially Metro, as is done in much of the rest of the world? That socialist country known as Sweden has contracted out most if not all of their transit operations and have seen costs decline and services increase. Many other nations have done the same.

If that doesn't work just open the market to anyone who wants to run a transit system and let them see what innovations they can produce and at what costs.

Hey, check this out! I'm not a republican!!! I'm going to vote "no". Tax gas instead. Or base vehicle licensing fees on vehicle weight and value. Car tab fees? The two of my bikes get the same "car tab fees" as two Lincoln Navigators. Throw in my ancient toyota and I'm paying three times as much "car tab fees" as someone who drives one Navigator around all day every day. Since there is enough money going around to rebuild the 520 bridge and dig a deep bore tunnel, I don't buy into the machine that promotes more regressive fees.

If you're thinking about voting no just because you don't feel like paying an extra $20, why don't you try to be less selfish? Vote yes and consider the extra $20 as a charitable contribution to those who rely exclusively on the bus and can't drive (i.e. the blind, the disabled, and those unable to afford cars). If you choose to continue caring only about yourself, enjoy complaining about increased car and bike traffic.

They've chosen to enact the increase in car tabs and sales tax because these are the things that they have the legal power to increase. They're not ideal but with the state refusing to step in and solve the issue and sales tax receipts still too low to cover costs, this is what we've got.

And I'd agree with @underwater that @Scott_Foster is being very selfish. What may I ask is that $20 compared to the annual operating cost of your THREE VEHICLES?

I'm a liberal and I'm voting NO on Prop 1. Enough is enough. The powers that be think they can keep putting the cost of their supposedly high tech metropolis on the backs of the lower classes. I realize a NO vote is going to hurt us but if we keep voting yes they're going to keep coming back to get us to pay more and more for things they can't get the rich to pitch in for.
We've got mega corporations right here in our midst who are sitting atop skyscrapers full of money. They're using our city's resources but instead of spending more to help, they're investing in space tourism, drones and mini submarines. PLEASE!!

What we think of as the American dream era, generally the 50's & 60's (which fueled the rise of Silicon Valley in the 70's & 80's), was made possible by high taxes on the very wealthy. These high taxes fueled industrial growth and helped keep wages up at a rate that allowed single earner families to own homes and new cars and pay them off early. In the 50's & 60's millionaires paid 70% to 91% in income taxes. Large corporations and wealthy Americans were able to pay this rate and still prosper. All through the 70's the rate was 70%. In the late 80's it dropped to 28% and in the 90's and 00's it has leveled at 35%. So our great transit systems were built with tax money from the upper margins not from the average lower and middle earners. Transit systems would never have been built if it hadn't been for high taxes on the very wealthy. I'm not saying the rate should be 90% but that's what built this great nation that right wingers keep blabbering about. If they want to keep it great they know what they have to do. But they won't do it unless they're made to. There's no way a good transit system can be sustained by a 1% sales tax and a $60 tab fee. It will keep getting worse until we're all riding to work in shopping carts pushed by our homeless uncles.

I have a fondness for King County Metro. I grew up on those things and remember when I started taking the bus how magical it was to be able to go anywhere in Seattle. Now, for so many people, it is an affordable and necessary transportation around our area.

My critique on The Stranger article is they try to pit the whole left and right-wing falsehood as if it is as simple as that. For those of us that LIKE public transportation, we need to address a whole slew of issues with metro. Expense and waste, ridership number, cost maintenance, etc. There is much wrong.

Reading this article, one would think it is as simple as "Lefties love the poor, Righties hate the poor and love money more." This is so blind to the problem it is actually damaging to figuring out what the solution actually is.

It is more of an issue of wanting to fix a broken wasteful system, and how best to accomplish this goal. Increasing revenue for something that is broken is still supporting a broken system.

That said, my younger brain will force me to vote YES on Prop 1. That does not mean I like it though.

Metro projected doom and gloom ridership forecasts and threatened bus cuts to the UW in 2010, which helped to dupe the two student government bodies (grad, undergrad) at the UW in 2010 to force "transportation fees" of $75 a quarter. These were introduced without any meaningful comment from the UW bureaucracy and screwed students who walked or biked to campus, which is most of us. Turns out the forecasts were off, and deeply indebted undergrad and grad students were out $225 for 2011-12 to subsidize all the other riders in King County. Right now, I have no faith in Metro, and bundling this with a tax to pay for roads just has a stink factor to high for me. Metro needs to come clean when it forecasts the sky is falling, and they haven't since that time for me.

17, 21, 22. Why don't we just put a tax on unicorns? Or get funding for transit out of wishes? That would make me happier too.

You're number are false. 30k more cars daily? translate that into bus fares and you're talking (at a massively reduced rate assuming many are low income) over 20 million per year in revenue.

So you're saying they're cutting $20mil a year in revenue?

Why don't you just say how must the routes cost vs. how much they generate? At some point bus routes / stops don't make sense (for fuck's sake there's a stop on almost every BLOCK on 15th ave E) and need to be restructured.

I stopped reading after that ... no point in wasting my time if you're going to write lies or just be so flagrantly incompetent.

Why do I have to pay for all that highway construction and maintenance (Especially keeping those roads cleared for rugged individualists in the winter) when I never use those roads? (For that matter I barely drive my old jalopy as it is, seems like I'm over paying for roads in general).

When are we going to get smart and stop paying their way. They can raise their own taxes to pay for all their infrastructure if that's the way the rural areas want to play it.

The state's tax structure is broken and getting worse. By which I mean more regressive. Not voting yes on this or any of the other measures that reinforce this downward trend no matter how painful the near term results.

If you live in Seattle and you vote against this, GTFO of the city because you're not pulling your weight.

You guys claiming to be "liberal" but voting no all sound like sock puppets for Tim Eyman. I hope he's paying you well.

21: You're a sucker then. Seriously. I think the fact that this shit is up for a vote is utterly ridiculous--it's a basic service that should be guaranteed. It's the unfortunate consequence of being too much under the thumb of the county and regressive state. It sucks, big time. But your little "working class" (I have to wonder if you really are) stance isn't going to help the working class at all. It's going to hurt them, and everyone else making less than 40k a year. So, by all means, make your last stand. But don't delude yourself with the silly notion that you're making some valid political statement.

30: Yeah, either Eyman sock puppets, or deluded center-right democrats who call themselves liberal because they believe in civil liberties.

Yup, sock puppets. You all joined up yesterday just to comment on this article.

Wow, the hidden comments have so many incredibly compelling reasons to vote no, if you're a smug, spiteful, right wing asshole who doesn't live in King County. I'm sold!

The highways, police, fire dept, school districts also generate a huge profit for us every year...I don't get why the transit org is expected to be some wildly successful business. Last time I looked it was an expense. If this is about paying a fair share, then sure. Let's toll all of our highways and implement congestion charges while we're at it. Additionally, I love how every time Rail comes up, the conservatives say that we should fund buses but when it comes to improving that service it's suddenly a wasteful expense. I commute 5 miles a day on a bike path so in reality none of this really affects me. I hope you enjoy the thousands of additional cars on the road everyday while the population continues to grow. If anything, this just might encourage more density because the only affordable and practical way to get into work really will be by walking or biking.

unjustly skyrocketing taxes on motorists from $40 for every vehicle over two years to $600 each over 10 years: an unacceptable 1,500% increase.

This is obviously a lie, but they're still saying we're currently being charged $20/vehicle and that's going up to $60/vehicle. That's a 200 percent increase, not 50 percent. Unless there's something I'm missing, the Prop 1 opponents aren't the only liars here.

We need a State NIIT:

What is the Net Investment Income Tax?

The net investment income tax is a surtax at a rate of 3.8% on a base of income that is the lesser of one's modified adjusted gross income over the threshold amount, or net investment income.

http://taxes.about.com/od/Types-of-Taxes…

I'd like to vote no, but we need to keep the access going for people with disabilities. Who knows... some of us might need that service someday.

"via a motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) on the value of people's vehicles—so we could tax a millionaire's sports car more than a beat-up old Toyota Corolla." Why does this need to be a class thing? If you've ever left Seattle and been to other states or other countries you might realize that a lot of them tax based on the weight of the vehicle. Since that has more to do with road maintenance then if my Honda cost me $5k, versus the tricked out $42k version. How about instead of blaming people based on how much they do or don't make, we actually do something that makes sense. P.S. Just because people are poor doesn't make them homeless or destitute and righteous. Just because people are rich, doesn't make them happy, assholes, and out to crush "the little guy/gal". The author of this article is a biased over generalizing turd.

42: It's a class thing because people who don't have a lot of money rely on buses to get from point A to point B. If a bunch of interlopers who don't rely on public transit act like it's no big deal to eliminate services that benefit people who don't make as much money they're making it into a class thing.

#40: Nice straw man there, champ. Add some more straw and your scarecrow should win the prize at the fair this year.

@37

I ride buses everyday, and I support buses, but I don't support Prop 1. Contradiction? No. I think what drives a lot of people crazy is that Metro is so bloody wasteful with its spending. Why is that only NYC and SF spend more to operate their bus systems than Seattle? Bloated budgets and wasteful spending.

If they got more efficient, but needed more revenue for services, then perhaps more people (myself included) would be more amiable to support the cause. In the meantime, raise fares if they need revenue so desperately.

@45
Metro has trimmed down massively. The fat is almost all gone. This funding gap cuts to the bone.
Prop 1 does raise fares.
I dont know why NYC and SF spend more... What metric are you looking at?
If you ride buses everyday, you might not if Prop 1 fails. The service will be shredded.

Well thanks for your cavalier support of public transit. I'm guessing your bus route isn't on the chopping block, or you have a car for convenience. Because if you're route was being cut and was you only means of transport, I don't think you'd be so principled.

"Ridership is increasing monthly, buses are overcrowded, demand is outstripping supply. I have a great idea: to show Metro that we don't like how they're running their finances, let's decrease supply significantly, making buses less frequent and more overcrowded. There will be collateral damage of course, but hey it's not me feeling the pain because I don't ride that bus, and the poors should be buying cars anyway. Punishing riders is a great way to force Metro to change. Oh yes, and let's raise fares, because $2.50 isn't high enough. Let's bump it to $3. Even though we've argued that the car fee is an unfair burden on the poor, the only solution we can see is increasing the burden of bus fare."

If people are so serious about creating steady revenue they should throw their support behind a state income tax and/or an indefinite fixed annual budget for Metro, adjusted annually based on increases in population, ridership, infrastructure costs and associated expenses. In other words, they should support the tax structure of a civilized society. Unfortunately Seattle is under the thumb of a retarded state and county government and funding structure. Some of us have to vote for these half-assed measures because we can't go to work if our routes aren't funded. We can't throw away shit over some misguided moral outrage about wasteful government.

Conservatives and east-side business community assholes keep crying about how the fees are a regressive tax, which has got to be the most disingenuous argument ever from a group of people who fight tooth and nail to prevent a state income tax, essentially forcing us to impose regressive taxes to pay for shit that should be part of a consistent, ongoing, indefinite transit/transport budget. It's pretty epic bad faith to thwart efforts to increase tax revenue and make taxes more progressive, and then turn around and whine about pay-as-you-go fees.

That was addressed to #45 and others.

Also, I contracted "your" the second time I use it. Eternal shame.

@46 Another sock puppet, although I note you say you "ride buses" every day, not that you "ride METRO buses." If you ride buses somewhere in Palo Alto, of course you don't feel like you have to support Prop 1.

However, if you do ride buses in Seattle, and don't support Prop 1, you are an idiot.

Tim Eyman doesn't care about transportation in Seattle. He lives in Mukilteo and works a non-traditional job that he can mostly do from his house. Also, he's a narrow-minded sociopathic narcissist.

Ugh, sorry @46, that was supposed to be directed @45.

‘I'm gonna vote NO because I support public transit but I'm a fucking idiot.’ – Shorter version of several comments above.

Even though it is another regressive nickle and dime fee, voting for prop 1 goes without saying because cutting so much bus service would impact those who need it most BUT I wish the initiative also mandated that all King county buses should sport a replica of Rodney Tom's balls hanging from the rear view mirror as an indication that we are not duped about who is responsible for this regression. Voting for prop 1 and going after Rodney Tom should be one and the same.

@55
Really? I didnt know all uber vehicles were ADA. You know, ready to take wheelchair bound passengers and all. That seems like a big reason that Uber wouldnt be a good choice.

I'm still looking for a guarantee that this measure will keep Metro from coming back to taxpayers with its hand out in two years, as it does every few years in good times and bad. Given how much of this tax increase is going to roads and without that reassurance, I'm voting no.

@29 "If you live in Seattle and you vote against this, GTFO of the city because you're not pulling your weight."

Thai is the most honest, concise, and perfectly formulated summary of progressives' philosophy that I've ever seen. You pull your weight by voting, not paying.

Marvelous, thank you.

@58
I dont think you understand the reason Metro runs Access vans.
They are legally obligated to.
Anyplace they send buses, they have to have Access vans available to be ADA compliant. Outsourcing that to a company like Uber honestly probably wouldnt be cheaper, let alone legal. In capital hill it would probably work out ok. But how many Uber drivers spend their time hanging around the outskirts? Like Issaquah or Duvall? The drivers would need special training, need special vehicles, be available in all sorts of far-flung places all the time, likely special insurance.... I dont know if Uber would really want that contract. That doesnt really have the flexibility that their business is built on.
Really the whole thing is that public transit HAS to be ADA compliant. It makes things much more expensive. Unless you count all the lawsuits that would be payed out if it wasnt.

I got the worst robocall from the anti-bus crowd last night. It was a shrieking, angry bitch of a woman, going on about "waste" and a bunch of other nonsense. I usually never answer calls where I don't know the number, but I'm glad I did in this instance, just for how terrible this woman was. I wish I had recorded it.

@19
Really? Is it so selfish to have worked for thirty years, to have a twenty-five year old truck and a couple of motorcycles, and to not want to be stuck with the bulk of the cost for poor financial management?

Get your bearings! Metro wants you, me, and my neighbors to fear cuts.

@42
AP. The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. Thank you!

Those of you claiming selfish motives of those of us voting NO are the same ones that want the 15/hr. wage. I drive because there is no service where I live. Between school levies that don't help schools (teachers wages have not gone up in 7+ years.. I'm a teacher) property tax just keeps going up so landlord raises rent. I’ve had enough with the taxes. Vote NO!

@50

Way to go off an a tangent about which you nothing about.

I use Community Transit, Sound Transit, and Metro every single day. Have been for about 8 years. I do not own a car. I do not live in Palo Alto. I do not support Tim Eyman.

But go ahead and make yourself feel good and demonize anybody that disagrees with you or Prop 1.

Raise fares, decrease spending, and stop appropriating $100,000,000 per mile for fixed-route street cars. How may bus routes would that fund?

@Scott Foster: Well said, you get it. I am another liberal who agrees with you. Metro has become the most bloated pig in all of public transportation. Millions spent on unnecessary and dysfunctional technology, overweight busses as well as pointlessly ruining countless bicycle lanes with idiotic sidewalk islands. Somewhere along the way Metro got WAY too comfortable. It's time for accountability. To vote yes on this is to encourage the worst spending policy ever shown in King County.

Voting yes is a band-aid solution that pours money into a failing system. Our region has become a megalopolis and can be better served without the redundancy of Metro Transit, Sound Transit, Pierce Transit and Snohomish Transit. Put together a true regional system for the 21st Century to get rid of redundant administration and then lets talk about the funding.

I lean liberal and usually rubber stamp tax increases, especially for schools and libraries and parks. I also drive and have to for work, taking transit would add 3-4 hours a day to my commute. The sales tax I could maybe deal with. But a flat $60 increase, that's huge and a deal breaker. Why stop there, why not double my car tabs from $100 to $200, or triple it? That will show those nasty drivers who clog our streets. Except I'm not a microsoftie driving my BMW, making $150k a year. I am a low middle class government worker who drives a used Hyundai. I'm sorry that's a 60% increase and even if the Seattle Times are assholes who fight progressive takes, a broken clock is right twice a day and this time of day they are right, it's a regressive tax. I'm pretty sure like most low middle class people I'm right in that sweet spot, make too much to not qualify for the low income credit and don't make enough money to not care about another $60 on top of my $100. How about car tab taxed based on the value of the vehicle? That I could get behind. Say a 1% tax to I'd pay $5 on my $5k Hyundai and the guy in the $50k BMW pays $50 more. Until they come up with a better system, sorry I'm voting NO.

Almost ALL these commenters are trolls.

Fuck you assholes. We need Metro.

Vote YES!!

I'm with hifiandrew 60.00 is way too much. Let it be a user fee, or better yet put some plates on bicycles and charge them 60.00 there's some revenue for the transit system.... see how eager they are to vote yes then.

#73. +1.

Why don't they just raise the price of a bus trip by 25 cents. With 400,000 riders a day, that would give them all the money they say they need. Give it a year or two then when they ask for more tax money it will be an easier sell.

juche is high on White Privilege . . . .

@29, @30, @54, & @60: Bravo! You nailed it! Although I don't live in Seattle anymore, I once DID rely on Metro's #15 and #18 routes through Ballard to get to and from school when I wasn't driving (back in the '90's)
I couldn't agree more!

@54 anon1256: I like your idea of roasting Rodney Tom's balls. But let's add Doug Ericson, Jason Overstreet, and Tim Eyman, too, to the ball-roasting list and make it a real charred-pig-que.

I can't believe I fall into the 'right wing asshole' category because I think we have an out of control driver's union. A LOT of people need to look at the facts before they vote and not just believe what is being spewed at them.

From 2000 to 2010, King County Metro has twice increased the sales tax rate. In 2000, Metro officials were successful in asking voters to approve a 0.2 percent rate hike and another 0.1 percent in 2006. Metro officials said these two tax increases would expand county bus service by 1.28 million hours by 2016. To date, Metro have only delivered about 307,000 hours, a third of the bus service they promised voters. Yet another tax on voters in 2011 of $20 for every car registered was promised to "spare Metro service". Elimination of the free ride zone dumped a ton of cash into Metro's pocket.
While taxpayers and transit users have not received what they were promised, one group has benefited from the tax increases have been the bus drivers.

1. Over the last ten years, King County Metro has three times sought and received increases in tax but only delivered about one third of the bus service promised to voters.

2. Over the same time period, salaries paid to Metro bus drivers grew 70%, from $79 million in 2000 to about $145 million in 2012.

3. Average wages for Metro bus drivers grew more than twice the rate of inflation.

4. The president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, Paul Bachtel, is on record saying that suspending automatic pay increases is unacceptable.

5. Metro does not even require a high school degree to become a transit operator, yet there are now 47 drivers who make between $125,000 and $100,00: 415 who make over $100,000 and $75,000 per year .

6. Metro drivers are the third highest paid drivers in the country

7. 11 Transit Mechanics making over $100,000 a year

8. Voters were told the higher taxes would be used to deliver more bus service, not to increase wages for bus drivers. Does this sound familiar?

9. On Dec 19, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 overwhelmingly voted against an offer to put a one year freeze on pay raises. An act which could have saved route cuts yet still kept them as the third highest paid drivers in the country.

Support for Metro Union worker's antics is not a support for continued bus service, but rather a support in getting as many Metro drivers and mechanics over the $100,000 a year salary mark as possible. I have experienced, several time, a Metro driver announcing over the PA that if we did not vote for increased revenue, we would be walking, paying for parking, or stuck in traffic. It is a horrible state of affairs when union workers are allowed to coerce paying customers for more money to fund their salaries and ridiculous pensions.

All of this information is easy to find on line. It is a horrible state of affairs when Union workers will hold the county hostage with threats if they can not turn their over paid positions into obscenely over paid positions. How proud are you that you simply roll over and allow anyone to take advantage of you.

They want a $1.6 billion tax increase. There are 2,157 King County employees who made over $100,000 in 2012. If you want to keep subsidizing that go ahead and vote yes on Prop. 1.

@11 Great points. So why are you voting yes?

80, 81 Great points.

I'm a college student and I don't have a car or the means to get a car at the moment and if Prop 1 doesn't pass then a bus I take regularly will be cut. I understand that the $20 tab increase is shitty for the people who drive everyday but when you really think about it--it's not that much money. There are probably times you spend $20 in one sitting on things that are much less helpful to the community.

I just moved to Seattle recently (in Feb) from out of state. How do I get a ballot? I haven't received one in the mail.

When it comes to getting screwed, Dan Savage knows what he's talking about. I'm following his advice and telling the East Side Wingnuts to stick it..well you know where.

I know, I know, this is gonna be a dumb question, but tell us, Dow, do you think you could have used the money spent on the cost of this special election to keep a few bus lines running?

Thanks for the reminder!
I voted: "HELL NO!"

@82-84: What $ should King Co. employees max out at? I bet Dori Monson makes over 100K. What does he think is fair? $99,999?

The logjam you're all bitching about is in Olympia and Mukilteo, home of Gov. Eyman. Gas Taxes are dedicated to roads. The State CONSTITUION forbids an income tax. Eyman got rid of license fees based on car value decades ago. $60? It used to be hundreds of $, every year.

Metro already has one of the highest per-ride fares in the nation. Vote yes, you fucking cheapskates. This is not the election in which to take a principled stand on forcing Olympia to perform its duties.

Considering how much those who don't even own nor rent private vehicles help to fund those who do,fiscal year after fucking fiscal year,I'd say the owners of private vehicles are in no Moral position of superiority.Then there's the subject of maintain the Upper Klass in the first damn place!Pfft! --- http://www.taxsanity.org

The median income of a Metro rider is higher than that of the average Seattle resident. Voting yes for prop 1 will simply take money out of poor people's pockets who need cars to take their kids to school and hand it over to the rich businessmen commuting to the Columbia tower.

I already voted . . . NO.

I voted Yes! I also confirmed another 30 yes votes over the past two days. We're going to keep moving this County forward despite all the naysayers. It's really just economics. Every business person I know supports this because we need transportation to get workers to work.

If you voted no on this, shame on you. Get the heck out of my town and make room for those of us who want to make this place prosper. All of the little nitpicky arguments are just that. Nothing trumps the fact that we need bus service or else we are going to look like a Texas traffic jam.

Vote NO on taking more money from the poor! Vote NO on prop 1!

@100, the words of a bloated white guy if I ever heard them before.

Honestly, I think this one is going to fail. But fear not! We can all have the satisfaction of knowing the eastside will choke to death on it's own traffic. So there will be some entertainment for the rest of us.

@101 - are you saying the average metro rider makes less than the average Seattle resident? Because that is not the case. By charging more for car tabs to keep bus fares cheap for high earning metro riders is going to benefit the richer amongst us and take money from the working poor through a $60 car tab tax increase. Raise fares by fourty cents a trip instead. Protect the poor. Vote NO on Prop 1!

Vote yes.
If you like being able to get around the city. If you dont want traffic to get worse. If you want working people to be able to get home from work. If you dont want to have to cab it every you go out.
Basically if you dont have a knee jerk reaction to government, vote yes.
We only have to do this because Oly completely screwed the pooch. But we still have to do it.