Constantine Asks for Funds for Cash-Strapped Metro
Washington's State Parks aren't the only entities aching from budget cuts and a lagging economy: King County Metro is having a rough time of it, too. Now, they're facing a potential cut of 600,000 hours of annual bus service over the next two years, according to the County.
As we reported yesterday, King County Executive Dow Constantine has proposed to the County Council a temporary $20 hike in car tab fees to pay for shortfalls in the Metro budget. Metro, which relies largely on sales taxes to pay for its services, has been hard hit by the recession, and rising gas prices have only added to the crunch. Fare hikes, redundancies and shorter hours, all of which make bus service generally less pleasant, have have taken a large dent out of the shortfall, but a gap of $60 million per year still remains to be filled.
Consequences could be dire if the measure is not adopted - Metro estimates that, without the additional fees proposed,riders could see a reduction of about 17% of bus services; these cuts would mean fewer buses, tired drivers, more unreliable routes and longer waits. Council Chair Larry Gossett called the cuts "untenable."
"I don't hear anyone asking for less bus service, but the system reduction that would be required if there is no interim funding would impact four of every five of our riders." Constantine said during today's news conference, adding that the cuts "would directly or indirectly affect every community in the county, at a time when demand is going up."
Metro is the 8th largest transit agency in the country, serving over 100 million passengers annually.
The Council Can act on the proposed legislation at July 22nd at the earliest.
