This is Not Progress!

The State Legislature has not yet passed a transportation plan, or anything else. The special session ended today. Tomorrow they will begin an unprecedented second special session.

Just today the Senate transportation committee released an awful new proposal for a transportation plan. It removes the over $400 million that the House proposal slated for investment in public transit.

And most importantly for King County Metro: whereas the House plan gives us a progressive Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET) transit funding option for King County, the Senate plan instead includes an option to raise the regressive sales tax by another 0.3% – and this authority would last for only five years.

You can email your legislators from the website of Transportation for Washington here.

Join TRU on the street in June!

As you probably know, Metro is facing the prospect of deep service cuts in 2014 if new funding isn’t secured.  Our best hope is a Motor Vehicle Excise Tax local option for King County, which is under consideration in the state legislature – but things in Olympia seem to be at a standstill, and the clock is ticking.  The Transit Riders Union is hitting the streets this month with a petition to save our buses!

Join the TRU Street Team!  Times and places are listed on the event calendar here and also to the right.  For more information on how to get involved you can email contact@transitriders.org, or call 206-651-4282.

Speak Out Against Metro Cuts on May 14!

As you probably know by now, Metro Transit may cut 600,000 annual service hours if no new funding can be secured. This would mean the complete elimination of 65 routes, and reduction in service to another 86 routes.

This crisis would lead to longer waits, farther walks, less access to vital services and resources, more overcrowding, and more traffic congestion!

As riders, we deserve better! We’ve already seen our fares nearly doubled in the past five years. We need to let the King County Council that we won’t take any more! Please attend the Council’s Transportation Committee public hearing on the proposed transit cuts.

Tuesday, May 14
3:30pm Open House
4:00pm Public Testimony
Sound Transit Boardroom
401 S Jackson St
Seattle, WA 98104

This is your opportunity to share how the transit cuts would affect you. Let your story be heard! Even if you don’t want to speak, your presence is very powerful, so please come if you can. And don’t forget to wear your gold TRU t-shirts!

For more information on the funding cuts, visit https://metro.kingcounty.gov/am/future/at-risk.html

In solidarity, in transit,

Transit Riders Union

Transit Riders March at Midnight!

A long line of Transit Riders marches through the darkness behind a bright banner

Photos by Sam Smith

We had a surprisingly good turnout to Saturday’s Midnight March for Metro, considering the lateness of the hour, the remoteness of the location, and how cold and wet the the weather was.  Over 50 people were counted, including County Councilmember Larry Phillips, who graciously accepted his constituents’ invitation to share in their suffering (and equally graciously forgave being introduced as ‘Larry Gossett’ by the event MC!).

Besides residents of Magnolia, Transit Riders Union members came out, as did members of SHARE/WHEEL, members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, including president Paul Bachtel, and members of Socialist Alternative.   In addition, members of the Anti-Fascist Marching Band showed up and treated marchers to spirited renditions of union songs and jazz standards.

Fellow Rider Jim McIntosh, long-time Magnolia resident and founder of the Magnolia Transit Riders Group, said, “Wow, what a night!  I’d say it was one of those Life’s Moments for me.”  Duff Badgely, the Magnolia resident who originally challenged Larry Phillips to walk the route, and played a leading role in organizing the event, said, “I’m amazed.”

This event is an excellent milestone for the Seattle Transit Riders Union.  Our first demonstration, which brought together the founders of the original group, only had a handful of attendees — despite sunny weather, the threat of 17% service cuts, and two solid weeks flyering and postering downtown.  A year-and-a-half of dedicated organizing later (all of it unpaid!), we can turn 5 times as many people out to protest a small neighborhood service cut.  Just think of the forces we’ll be able to mobilize next year if the state legislature fails to give us a local funding option, and Metro is forced to go ahead with those cuts of 17%!

And when people get organized to save public transit, what is to stop them from getting organized to save other social services, or to fight for better working conditions and wages?

Larry Phillips Speaks to Transit RidersMotley and Smiling ProtestorsA member of the Anti-Fascist Marching Band regales protesters with his horn

The Transit Reader is Launched!!

Transit Reader Newsletter – PDF

The very first issue of the Transit Riders Union newletter, the Transit Reader, was launched at our potluck this afternoon.  A big thank you to everyone who wrote articles, edited, illustrated, and otherwise contributed to this effort!  There is a link to the PDF version above, but it’s no substitute for the real thing, so make sure to get a copy from a TRU member.

46th District State Representative Jessyn Farrell, co-sponsor of HB 1959, made an appearance at our potluck too.  We all made calls to our state legislators urging them to support this bill, which would give King County local funding options for transit and a chance to avoid 17% service cuts next year. Please call your legislators, and…

Join us tonight on our Midnight March for Metro!!  Meet at 11:00 pm, 1541 15th Ave W. (it’s on the Rapid Ride D-line).  We’re arranging transportation to make sure everyone can get at least back to downtown after the march.