Metro won't cut bus service after all

Metropolitan King County Council members say they've figured out how to maintain existing bus service for two more years — instead of cutting service 9 percent as earlier proposed.

The latest plan also allows Metro Transit's RapidRide service to launch next year, with the initial A Line connecting Tukwila, SeaTac and Federal Way, followed by five other corridors in the next few years.

RapidRide is a form of "bus rapid transit" featuring yellow buses with three doors for quick loading; service every 10 minutes at peak times; and new bus lanes or stations, intended to provide quality comparable to light rail.

But other gains in service, to outlying suburban areas and on high-ridership urban routes, will be delayed at least until 2012, which is later than voters approved in the 2006 Transit Now ballot measure.

Largely because of a recession-related drop in sales-tax collections, Metro was facing a $213 million gap between the service it promised and the revenues available.

This summer, County Executive Kurt Triplett proposed an across-the-board service cut to all 225 routes. That proved unpopular with several County Council members, who would have faced heat from riders in their districts.

Roughly two-thirds of U.S. transit agencies have cut service since mid-2008, according to the American Public Transportation Association. Metro had managed to escape cuts by receiving millions in federal stimulus money and raising fares.

It also has overspent compared to peers, local auditors say, leaving room to trim the budget without reducing core bus service.

The latest plan, to be approved today, is a mix of Triplett's ideas and some new ones. They include:

• Boosting adult fares by 25 cents at the start of 2011, on top of the 25-cent increase on Jan. 1, 2010.

• Allowing advertising wraps on buses. The budget shows only $140,000 income by wrapping 20 to 30 buses the first two years, but income is expected to grow, said County Council analyst John Resha.

• Leaving 39 positions unfilled and dropping four others, including park-and-ride maintenance, customer-service personnel and police.

• Spending $40 million in the next two years out of a $105 million excess that auditors located in the bus-replacement fund.

• Developing a more centralized trip-schedule system, instead of doing it separately from seven bus bases. This is supposed to reduce "deadheading," where buses often travel empty at the end of a run. That and other tightening of schedules is supposed to save $19 million. The downside is drivers will have less break time and less of a hedge against traffic jams or bad weather.

"You can expect more buses running late, more schedule delays," said Bachtel. But he also said Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond "did a responsible job" in the plan overall, by avoiding layoffs and drastic service cuts.

• Adding a property tax next year of $6.50 per $100,000 of assessed value to go toward bus service. County officials say the move won't raise the burden on taxpayers because a like amount of property tax is being reduced by canceling foot-ferry projects and by trimming a fingerprint-identification fund.

County leaders would still be faced with either cutting service or raising taxes by 2012-13, Resha said.

Triplett will leave office Tuesday, when council Chairman Dow Constantine of West Seattle, a fervent transit supporter, is sworn in as county executive.

Constantine said during the campaign that he would ask the Legislature to allow a county car-tab fee or other vehicle taxes to support Metro.

But many of the new trims appear sustainable for longer than two years — so further taxes wouldn't be just a bailout, but also help boost Metro service.

Metro is the seventh-busiest public bus agency in the nation, serving more than 360,000 riders a weekday. It has the equivalent of 4,000 full-time jobs, and will spend around $1.4 billion over the next two years.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com