Sims wants to boost sales tax to add buses
King County Executive Ron Sims is proposing a sales-tax increase for the November ballot in hopes of buying so many buses that riders won't even need a schedule.
The plan, nicknamed "Transit Now," promises Metro Transit runs between downtown Seattle and West Seattle, Ballard and Aurora Avenue North every 10 minutes, with equally frequent trips from Bellevue to Redmond and along Pacific Highway South.
Sims' office calls it the largest expansion of service in two decades.
If county voters pass the measure, Metro's share of sales taxes, currently 80 cents on every $100 in purchases, will increase to 90 cents per $100.
That's on top of existing taxes for Sound Transit and state highways. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels intends to put a separate tax for citywide transportation to voters this fall; he hasn't announced which projects to include. And a multibillion-dollar regional transportation package for Snohomish, King and Pierce counties could reach the ballot next year.
Kevin Desmond, general manager of Metro, said fuel prices and other costs of running a transit system will rise faster than what current taxes can bring in. At the same time, a quarter-million new jobs are expected in the county during the next decade.
"We're not even coming close to growing our system enough to keep up with our [employment] growth," he told The Seattle Times editorial board Monday.
Desmond said the tax would raise $50 million in the first year, and some of that would pay for more driver hours almost immediately, using the existing fleet. Over two years, Metro would begin to add 190 buses, half of them hybrid gas-electric models.
"Just like having your car available any time you need it, the bus service also needs to be there," he said.
He touted a new bus rapid-transit service for West Seattle, which could lose its most direct route to downtown someday while the nearby Alaskan Way Viaduct is replaced.
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Sims wants to boost sales tax to add buses
