KC Council: "The Wheels on the Bus Will Go 'Round and 'Round!"

What do we want? Bus and library hours! When do we want 'em? Over the next biennium!

Bus service hours for the next two years won't be cut, says the King County Council. Instead, fares will go up $0.25 each year, to $2.00/$2.25 (off-peak/peak one-zone fare) in 2010 and $2.25/$2.50 in 2011.

That, combined with full bus-wrap ads (with an open strip for windows), more efficient bus routes and scheduling, and diverted funding from the King County Ferry District, will save the 310,000-odd hours that had been on the table.

Those are generic bus hours, of course--Metro is not making any promises about your particular bus route not changing. In fact, the budget crunch (Metro had been looking at a $213 million deficit for the next two years under the proposed budget) gives Metro license to use software to optimize its routes and schedules more aggressively--something I believe they have wanted to do for some time, but have held off on due to the "You moved my cheese!" response of riders outraged at things changing.

Seattle Transit Blog notes that, in other transit news, the federal government is considering letting the FTA take over safety regulation of "commuter rail, subway, and light rail systems nationwide," citing "increased collision rates, derailment rates, and worker fatalities." Federal oversight would eventually extend to bus transit systems, too. Depending on the administration, this could be either good news--federal money for safety--or bad news, if safety regulations are tightened to make transit costs prohibitive.