The SunBreak » kevin desmond

30% of King County Metro Routes May Disappear in “Bus Rapture”

Michael van Baker — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 17:51:15 +0000

By mid-2014 -- when two temporary funding sources expire -- King County Metro will be facing a shortfall of $75 million per year. Metro chief Kevin Desmond said this morning that, without replacement funding, this could mean the termination of up to 30 percent of Metro routes.

Who Made King County Transit the Tunnel Fall Guy?

Michael van Baker — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 23:39:21 +0000

What Gregoire, Sims, and Nickels could do was present everyone with a fait accompli: a construction megaproject in midstream, and the promise of gridlock if more funds aren't made available. Specifically, says Metro chief Kevin Desmond "about 125 daily bus trips and 7,500 daily transit seats will be lost -- while tunnel construction and viaduct demolition continues into 2016."

Op-Ed: Coaxing Metro into Putting Passengers First

Michael van Baker — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:34:27 +0000

Sometimes the question is phrased as, What would it take to get people out of their cars? I like to ask, What's keeping people off the bus? That means taking up a passenger-first perspective (which doesn't supplant Metro's systems management, but does rejigger some of its guiding parameters).

For Just a Nickel a Day, You Can Feed King County Metro

Michael van Baker — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:52:44 +0000

The most absurd claim, though, is that Metro is "continually asking for more money," as if the problem is not that Metro is continually getting less in the first place. "Voters have already given Metro two recent tax increases," writes Ennis, "in 2000 and 2006." As Desmond points out, King County Metro's financial struggles stem from 1999's I-695, which left transit dependent solely on sales tax revenues. The 2000 "increase" supplied Metro with less money than it had lost. After the 2006 "increase," and the recession, "Metro’s revenues dropped twice as much as Transit Now was supposed to raise."

OneBusAway Faces “Number of Options”

Michael van Baker — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:21:53 +0000

Some 50,000 Seattle transit riders use the popular OneBusAway bus-tracking program per week says creator Brian Ferris, a graduate student who'll finish up his work at the University of Washington shortly, and head off to work at Google Transit. That last news has created consternation in about 50,000 hearts, as it's not clear what will become of OneBusAway once Ferris departs. On his blog, Ferris tries to allay concerns.

Inside the Mind of Metro: ORCA, Twitter & Transit Unions

Michael van Baker — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Last week I sat down to talk with King County Metro chief Kevin Desmond about how technology was affecting Metro’s interactions with customers and its infrastructure. Besides the popularity of third-party services like One Bus Away, we talked about smart cards, social media, and audience participation. I brought up the question of continuing the downtown … Continue reading →