County should approve vehicle fee to preserve Metro Transit service

METRO Transit faces a budget shortfall of $120 million and 600,000 hours of service cuts over the next two years, due to a prolonged decline in sales-tax revenue. On Monday, the Metropolitan King County Council should approve a Congestion Reduction Charge that would save most of Metro's existing service for two years. The two-year car-tab fee would charge $20 per vehicle each year.

Although this does not provide long-term funding, it allows time to seek a more stable revenue source for transit. If six of the nine council members vote yes, the fee will be enacted automatically for two years. Or the council could vote to send the car-tab fee to the fall or winter ballot.

The Seattle Times has urged a "no" vote, blaming Metro for having made "unsustainable decisions" ["Drawing the line on Metro car-tab tax," editorial, Opinion, June 30].

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, representing Metro vehicle operators and mechanics, disagrees. Metro has pared its budget repeatedly over successive years and is down to only two weeks of operating reserves. Metro employees have already forestalled service reductions by accepting furlough days, cuts to benefits and cost-of-living adjustments. Bus drivers work nights, weekends, and split shifts spread over 10, 12, even 16 hours, without overtime. Drivers are even sacrificing lunch and bathroom breaks!

The Times asks why car drivers should pay. Each weekday, more than 360,000 people ride Metro. On average, each bus in the afternoon peak carries 39 passengers. Imagine 39 more cars on the road per bus. Now multiply those extra cars by the thousands of hours of impending service cuts. It will seem like there is a sports game or bridge closure every day.

Car drivers face an unfortunate choice: pay $20 once a year, or sit in traffic longer each day. Saving $20 a year would be pound-foolish. According to the Texas Transportation Institute Traffic Mobility Report, in 2009, the area's peak auto commuters wasted an average of 35 gallons of gas and 44 hours due to congestion.

Congestion is a substantial drag on the economy. Using the outdated fuel cost of $2.73 per gallon, the Mobility Report calculated that the area's truck congestion alone cost $659 million in 2009 — equivalent to 1,500 family jobs. Instead, this is money down the drain for businesses, whether they depend on freight to and from the port, or deliveries between suburbs.

The Times suggests lower cost-of-living adjustments for bus drivers, something the drivers have already accepted. But this does not come close to solving Metro's problem. The average bus-driver wage is about $50,000 ($49,520 in 2009). Metro's 2,800 drivers would each have to accept wage cuts of more than $20,000 per year, or 40 percent of their average wage, to plug the $60 million budget gap.

We all know elderly, youth, students, low-income and disabled friends and neighbors who need the bus, and none of us wants service cut. The people who serve us at the mall, in restaurants, at the movies, clean our offices, and cook and clean for us in hospitals and nursing homes may not make enough money to own cars and pay for car insurance. If late-night service is cut, how many will either drive without insurance or lose their jobs?

The public wants to solve these problems. For $20 per year on our car tabs, we can keep Metro service going with only minor service cuts for the next two years, and avoid increasing traffic and stranding those who have no other transportation. The Congestion Reduction Fee is well worth the investment.