After some last-minute back-and-forth to keep things interesting, a King County Council supermajority voted to…keep funding Metro, temporarily. Summarizes Seattle Transit Blog:
The 7-2 vote delays a deep bus service cut for two years, gives ride free bus tickets to residents in exchange for the $20 vehicle license fee, and ends the Downtown Seattle’s Ride Free Area in October of next year…
Two Waldorf & Stetler-style commenters at STB added some realpolitik perspective: “Now that you have a temporary reprieve, it’s time to get a more perminate funding package put together and approved before your two years expires….”
Seconded the other: “Exactly. Let’s see if some of the needed reforms are made, and a sustainable plan can come together. I’d like to think that with some action now, we can avoid a similar ‘crisis’ later…but somehow I doubt that’s going to be the case.”
Meanwhile, in Seattle, the City Council’s Tim Burgess reported on his “unscientific” survey about a possible increase in the annual Vehicle License Fee–the Council is kicking around $20-increment increases, from $40 to $80. According to Burgess, 434 people responded, with 420 of them completing every question. We learn that at least 434 people on the internet think that insufficient transit is far and away Seattle’s most pressing problem, more so even than fixing the roads.
The Council’s Tom Rasmussen is in favor of a $60 fee, which would devote half of its yearly $20 million in revenue to transit, 30 percent (some $6 million) to road maintenance. That number contrasts strongly with the Seattle Department of Transportation’s estimate that it would take $1.8 billion to “bring all parts of the transportation system into good condition.”
Even the very transit-boosterish may swallow hard at a the King County and Seattle vehicle license fee tag-team, especially the two-car households. If you feel like you’re being presented with a pig in a poke, you’re not far off. The benefit of funding transit from a longer-term car tab fee is, in theory, that it will act as earnest money when the City goes a-courtin’ for state and federal transit dollars (more federal than state, you imagine). Either way, no one’s making promises on when a streetcar will pass by your front door.
If the vehicle fee is not about transit, however vaguely, it looks very much like micturition into the teeth of a road-repair gale. It would at least supplement the Bridging the Gap levy’s revenue, but as SDOT points out, the levy plus assumed base funding “was only anticipated to fill about 50 percent of the need for annual maintenance.” Then came the recession, and since then, “general fund revenue dedicated to transportation has declined almost 25 percent and gas tax revenues have continued to fall.”
All of the fee options, then, even if devoted fully to road maintenance and repair, count as little more than bailing with a teacup in heavy seas. As someone asked earlier, “What is to be done?”
UPDATE: The Seattle City Council, acting in their capacity as the Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD) Governing Board, voted unanimously to approve a $60 vehicle licensing fee for the November 8, 2011, ballot. If voters approve, says the Council’s press release, they’ll receive:
- Transit: Speed and reliability improvements to eight major corridors; projects that provide better access from neighborhoods to light rail and frequent bus service corridors; and improved safety for transit riders.
- Pavement preservation: Allows the city to capitalize on Bridging the Gap (BTG) investments to accomplish 26 major pavement preservation projects each year (24 BTG + two Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC)) and 38 major spot repairs (25 BTG + 15 CTAC).
- Pedestrian and bike mobility: Additional sidewalk, crosswalk , pedestrian signals and projects that improve safety and mobility for disabled residents; along with improved bike options for kids and more casual bicyclists who avoid riding today because of concerns about safety.
- High-Capacity Transit investments: Preserves $20 (plus possibility of bonding authority) for High-Capacity Transit investments, once city has demonstrated need, completed planning and is eligible for matching dollars from federal or private funds.
“Here’s an interesting factoid,” writes the Council’s Tim Burgess in explaining his vote: “The average speed of Metro buses in Seattle is six to eight miles per hour. The corridor improvements the new VLF revenues will provide will increase the average speed to 10 to 12 miles per hour, a significant service enhancement.”
