Reading through Lucas from Neighborlogs' coverage of a King County Metro budget meeting, we're left with the uncomfortable feeling that we read the phrase "deferred maintenance" one too many times. Besides fare increases (to $2.25) and bus service suspensions, Metro's Kevin Desmond says "Metro will greatly reduce the number of buses it purchases, and speed, reliability and asset maintenance programs will be cut." [Emphasis added] We know! Reads like a line cut from Drag Me to Hell, doesn't it? more ›

A $100m shortfall in sales tax may cause Metro to cut service by 20 percent. Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond--who obviously just saw The Wrestler--called it "a body blow." Why linger at Forever 21 when it's not all that hard to get into Ft. Lewis if you're a teenage girl? But children are the future. And somewhere out there in the Puget Sound, J-pod orcas are still trying to lose the baby weight. Welcome to the world, J44 and L122. more ›

If I was a bear and a big bear too, I wouldn't care much if it froze or snew. But we're not Pooh-bears, we're Seattleites (and Seattlests), and the fact is, our city failed us, failed miserably last month. Ace-of-Grace Crunican, nominally in charge of Seattle streets, actually left town during the height of the storm. Spacey Kevin Desmond, nominally in charge of Metro, went ten days without phoning back to ask SDOT whazzup wid da snowplowz, guys? Clowns, all of them. Most of us came to Seattle because it's a decent place to live, drawbacks of climate aside. We put up with crappy weather half the year and year-round provincialism in exchange for clean air, clean water, clean government. We don't expect betrayal at the hands of incompetent bureaucrats. more ›

We realize plenty of people are still steamed about the loss of our public transportation system during the recent snow and, currently, during the widely celebrated "It's almost New Year's Eve" holidays. Most of you are probably at home right now, sipping hot cocoa. Enjoy it! It's the holidays! more ›

That's an actual quote from the AP story on the projected gas price peak in the P-I this morning: "the government tends to err on the optimistic side." more ›

When that 25-cent fare increase hits in March...let's see, gotta calculate up...carry the exponent...Metro could be making 1,925,000 extra dollars per year (not really, we're just multiplying 0.25 by 7% of total boardings, for a quick estimate). A peak 1-zone fare will be $1.75, so make sure you're carrying around three quarters during commute times. more ›

Seattle Metro Transit is reporting that 2006 was a record year for bus ridership with 103.2 million boardings and for some reason we feel like cheering this news. Yay Metro Transit, you're competently running a bus service for the city of Seattle. Way to go. The release claims that this year's numbers represent a 4.3% increase over 2005 and attributes the increase in ridership to additional jobs in the area - The previous high-ridership mark was set in 2000 when there were also a high number of jobs in the city. We'd like to attribute it to an increased awareness of the lack of sustainability built into the automobile-based model of transportation in the region, but we also attribute our cat's energetic moods to the tides, so... The closest Metro Transit will come to saying something like that is: more ›

This week Seattlest played like a transportation groupie -- former Mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, Jaime Lerner was in town and we caught his public address at Benaroya Hall ("An Evening with Jaime Lerner") and then a breakfast talk ("Lessons from Curitiba") sponsored by the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle and offering a panel discussion with Patricia Chase (International Sustainable Solutions), Kevin Desmond (King County, Metro Transit), and Jim Mueller (JC Mueller). more ›

You're looking at the official map of Seattle's Downtown Ride-Free Area. more ›