With the failure of Proposition 1 on April 22, the future of our public transit system hangs in the balance. In September King County Metro will implement the first of four planned rounds of bus service cuts. If all of these cuts happen, 16% of our bus service, or 550,000 annual service hours, will simply disappear.

We all know that these cuts are unacceptable. They are unacceptable from an economic point of view, they are unacceptable from an environmental point of view, and most of all they are unacceptable from a human point of view. To gut our public transit system when buses are already overcrowded, when the polar ice sheets are melting, and when tens of thousands of King County residents have no other way to get around, is nothing short of insane.

The City of Seattle and other cities in King County now have a duty to act to save as much bus service as possible. Mayor Murray has proposed a sales tax increase of 0.1% and car tab fees of $60 to be put on the ballot in November: Prop 1 replayed in Seattle only. While this is preferable to service cuts, we believe the city should consider more progressive options first. We strongly support the amendment put forward by Councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata, to replace the sales tax increase with a Commercial Parking Tax increase and an Employer Head Tax.

But in the end, we cannot forget that all these local options are last-ditch emergency measures, and we cannot let arguments over which is the least bad distract us from the real question: Why are we even talking about cutting public transit? Public transit is basic infrastructure, and we should not be forced to vote to preserve it. Affordable mass transit is an environmental, economic, and social necessity, and it needs to be treated as such by those who represent us in government.

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We just learned that signature-gathering for Initiative 118 has been suspended, and the Mayor is expected to announce a ballot measure to save Metro service this Tuesday, May 13.  Thank you to everyone who has been out collecting signatures.  You can read more here: https://www.keepseattlemoving.com/

Prop 1 went down hard, despite the heroic efforts of TRU members and volunteers and many other organizations and individuals.  But we’re not giving up the fight!  At our May Membership Meeting, TRU voted to endorse Initiative 118, which would at least save much of Seattle’s bus service by raising property taxes by $0.22 per $1,000 of assessed value.  And while TRU members and volunteers will be on the front lines of this effort, we’ll also be working to plan our strategy for the November elections and next session in Olympia.

We have only until June 4 to gather over 20,000 valid signatures.  Want to volunteer with us?  Email contact@transitriders.org or leave a message at 206-651-4282.  You can also stop by the Labor Temple, Hall 6 on Monday, May 12 between 6 and 8 pm to pick up petition sheets and other materials.  You can also print petition sheets here.  It is important that TRU can keep in contact with the riders we talk to, so please also print these TRU contact sheets and encourage petition signers to sign up for our email or phone lists.

For printing – or contact us if you’d like some printed.

https://transitriders.org/pdf/SOM_Flyer_Espanol.pdf

Come rally at Westlake Park from 12:00 to 2:00 on Wednesday, April 2, the day ballots are mailed!  Listen to speakers, and stop by TRU’s table to pick up flyers and posters, a button or a Save Our Metro shirt.

Expect your ballot by April 5!

Do your car-driving friends and relatives need some persuasion to vote for public transit? Here’s an adorable video made by Metro drivers Mark LaFalce and Linda Anderson. Please share far and wide!

Come on out and help the Transit Riders Union get this campaign rolling!  Are you a Metro rider? Then we need YOU to pitch in if we’re going to succeed in saving our bus service and winning an affordable low income fare.  Join us at our kickoff event next Monday, where you can sign up to volunteer with our street teams, take home a stack of flyers and posters, and get a button and a shirt. There will be refreshments, and we’ll keep it brief so that we can go out and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day afterwards.

Save Our Metro Campaign Kickoff
Monday, March 17, 6:00 – 7:30 pm
Labor Temple, Hall #8
2800 1st Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121