Seattle residents have shown they support transit with their feet — and with their votes. Bus ridership is up 20% over the last two years, and we recently approved an expansion of light rail.

Light Rail
For almost 80 years, we have talked about a real transit system to serve the urban neighborhoods of Seattle. I pledge to bring a plan before voters to extend Light Rail to dense, transit-ready neighborhoods like West Seattle, Belltown, Ballard, and Fremont. Unless we act now, it could be 30 or 40 years before these neighborhoods are served by Link.

Read my plan here: (.PDF File).

Buses
Too many buses are too full, while some run nearly empty. And while overcrowded rush hour buses regularly pass by commuters waiting by the side of the road, the down economy means bus service will be cut 20% in the coming year.

My goal is to banish the phrase “overcrowded bus” from our vocabulary. If you walk to your bus stop, you should have frequent, reliable, comfortable transit service to get you where you need to go.

We can dramatically improve local transit service with simple steps such as removing redundant bus stops, creating traffic signal priority for transit, implementing pay-before-you-enter fares, leveling loading through multiple doors, and adding bus-only lanes.

This will allow our existing bus fleet to serve more people efficiently, as well as provide more reliable service. An investment in better buses means that we can create service frequency, reliability and comfort that will reward those who choose the bus over cars.

Right now, Metro has plans for Rapid Ride lines and a modernized rapid electric trolley bus system. Their cost is a fraction of the money that this city and state are prepared to pour into an unnecessary tunnel through downtown.

Getting local transit right is good not just for the 16% of Seattle households that don’t own a car, or the tens of thousands of people that use transit daily. It is good for our entire local economy. It reduces demand for expensive and polluting new highways. It saves money for local households. It keeps money in our local economy. And it protects us from reliance on foreign oil that will only get more expensive over time.

An economically and environmentally sustainable city requires a great local transit system. But this won’t happen if we don’t have the right priorities and make good decisions now.

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