The following statement was approved at TRU’s March Membership Meeting. To get involved in the campaign to save bus service and win a more affordable reduced fare, email contact@transitriders.org and check out saveourmetro.org.
The Transit Riders Union strongly urges all transit riders and all voters in King County to VOTE in the April 22, 2014 special election and to APPROVE Proposition 1, the ballot measure regarding transportation funding.
Passage of this ballot measure will save our Metro bus service from devastating cuts. It will also make public transit more affordable, by lowering the new low income reduced fare from $1.50 to $1.25 for two years.
We urge approval of Proposition 1 despite our strong objections to the taxes proposed.A $60 Vehicle License Fee and a 0.1% sales tax increase are regressive taxes that will further burden the working and poor people of King County. Neither do these taxes constitute a stable or sufficient long-term funding solution for Metro. Nonetheless we strongly urge a YES vote for the following reasons:
- First, due to irresponsible neglect on the part of the Washington State Legislature, King County has no other realistic option for saving bus service.
- Second, the King County Council chose to include a $20 rebate of the Vehicle License Fee for low income car-owners, making this tax somewhat less regressive.
- Third, the immediate alternative to Proposition 1 is massive cuts to our Metro bus service that will increase congestion, harm the environment, and unacceptably lower the quality of life of working and poor transit riders throughout King County.
The Transit Riders Union therefore calls upon the transit riders and voters of King County to vote in favor of Proposition 1, and to join the Transit Riders Union and our allies in the long-term battle for sustainable, progressive funding for affordable mass public transit.