Originally published Monday, July 7, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Editorial
Keep Metro rolling
A 25-cent bump in adult fares on Metro Transit will help keep buses rolling and routes expanding. That is worth an extra two bits. The King County bus...
A 25-cent bump in adult fares on Metro Transit will help keep buses rolling and routes expanding. That is worth an extra two bits.
The King County bus system is not immune to the same soaring fuels costs that helped fill bus seats with a record number of passengers. County Executive Ron Sims has a stark choice: raise rates in October or cut service.
If the County Council approves the increase, as it should, it would only be a scant seven months since the last increase for adult fares. Before that, it was 2001.
All of Metro's numbers are big. The system buys 12 million gallons of diesel for its 1,300 buses. Metro had budgeted for $2.60 a gallon and will end up paying an average of $3.86 per gallon in 2008. In a letter to the council, Sims notes Metro quit using biodiesel when the federally subsidized price became prohibitive.
The requested increase would raise one-zone peak transit fares from $1.75 to $2. That translates to inside the Seattle city limits during the morning and evening commutes. A two-zone peak fare, into the suburbs to the north, east and south, would rise from $2.25 to $2.50. Not inexpensive, but the household calculation is how much fuel and parking an extra 50 cents a day would buy.
The adult off-peak fare would rise from $1.50 to $1.75. Rates for seniors and youth — 50 cents and 75 cents, respectively — went up this month, and would not change.
Sims wants to rescind prohibitions on wrapped advertising — those full paint jobs — on Metro buses. Current rules do not allow for new contracts or existing contracts to be extended.
Get over it; go for the money.
He also wants to develop a fuel-hedging program "aimed at reducing fuel price volatility." This has such a scary, Enron-esque sound to it, one hopes the county gets lots of skeptical advice.
The county council is faced with Sims' dilemma: raise rates or cut service. Standing-room-only buses suggest the obvious answer.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
UPDATE - 02:37 PM
Charles Krauthammer / Syndicated columnist: Iran's leaderless revolution: searching for a Yeltsin
NEW - 02:26 PM
Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist: The triumph and tragedy of Michael Jackson
NEW - 02:48 PM
Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist: What does a homosexual demon look like?

Tribal Fireworks Rivalry
The Fourth of July marks a long-standing fireworks rivalry between two clans of a Native-American family in Suquamish.
Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech
shopping

events for Saturday, Jul. 4th
- Blackbird Spring Half-Yearly Sale
- Seattle Premium Outlets July 4th Summ...
- Pink Ginger First Anniversary Sale
- Saturday Market
editors' picks
More shopping guides- Yakima teacher reprimanded for sending 5-year-old student home with bag of feces in backpack
- Palin resignation leaves questions on 2012 run
- Fire sends service providers scrambling
- 6 jurors swear a cop's wife swayed panel in Kent civil rights case
- Going to Gas Works Park? Good luck
- Bicyclist killed Wednesday night is identified
- Mariners Blog | Mariners, Angels have serious trade deadline advantage over Texas Rangers
- Powerful sedative found in Michael Jackson's home
- It's a blank slate now but will the Othello station fulfill plans for high-density shopping area?
- Franklin Gutierrez gives Mariners a spark in 8-4 win over Yankees
- Palin resigning as Alaska governor
539 - Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox: 07/04 game thread
342 - Obama's own party worried health plan lacks votes
248 - Yakima teacher reprimanded for backpack feces
87 - Recession wipes out 9 years of job gains
86 - 6 jurors swear a cop's wife swayed panel in Kent civil rights case
70 - Obama's practical immigration-reform approach: Legalize status of illegal workers
67 - Global warming may impede eelgrass growth
66 - Eyman initiative looks likely for November ballot
55 - Woman accuses Sounders FC player Nate Jaqua of sexual assault, seeks more than $10 million
54
- Going to Gas Works Park? Good luck
- Liven up Fremont's attempt to break a world record for a 'zombie walk'
- Lynnwood's City Bank gets tighter scrutiny
- Yakima teacher reprimanded for sending 5-year-old student home with bag of feces in backpack
- Fire sends service providers scrambling
- Oregon woman obsessed with rabbits back in jail
- Retail Report | Pet-supply shops grow while other retailers fade
- Palin resignation leaves questions on 2012 run
- Police: Teens mishear sex screams, beat man
- Recession wipes out 9 years of job gains
