Vote "yes" for county bus service

Of all the transportation-related money measures facing voters the next few years, the easiest "yes" vote belongs to King County Proposition 2, which boosts bus service throughout the county.

The downside of the "Transit Now" proposition is it would raise our already-high sales tax one-tenth of 1 percent. The upside, a dramatic increase in bus service throughout the region, is altogether more important. This forward-looking plan promises such reliable bus service that riders along key lines can throw away their bus schedules. Another bus will be along shortly, within 10 minutes.

Riders will enjoy new levels of predictability and convenience most of the day on a RapidRide system along five heavily-used corridors: Aurora Avenue North, between Shoreline and downtown Seattle; downtown Bellevue to downtown Redmond; SeaTac to Federal Way; Ballard to downtown; and West Seattle to downtown. The latter two fill in where the Seattle monorail was supposed to travel.

Beginning in 2009, an electronic reader board would tell riders at key locations along these routes how many minutes — and it shouldn't be very many — until the next bus arrives.

Service improvements — mid-day, evenings, weekends and commute hours — should also be noticeable as more service is provided in places such as Auburn, Kent, SeaTac and Burien, Bellevue, Sammamish, Issaquah and Redmond.

Traffic in our area, especially in our rapidly growing suburbs, is reaching a breaking point.

The region cannot accommodate an employment population projected to grow by 22 percent over the next decade if our entire focus is on cars. Buses are flexible and reasonably priced. We need a dependable bus system to ease the headaches of anticipated highway construction, such as replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

This worthwhile investment would raise $50 million a year at the beginning, $75 million a year the 10th year. It would likely convert thousands of automobile drivers into bus riders and take some of the sting out of the daily commute.

Vote yes on King County Proposition 2.