Phillips applauds restoration of some late night transit service to Magnolia

February 11, 2013

Summary

Additional late night trip to be added to Route 24 starting February 16

Story

In response to customer input, Metro Transit will add a later Route 24 trip to and from Magnolia starting Feb. 16. The new northbound trip will leave Fourth Avenue South and South Royal Brougham Way at 10:15 p.m. on weekdays and 10:20 p.m. on weekends. A southbound trip to downtown Seattle will leave 35th Avenue West and West McGraw Street at 10:18 p.m. on weekdays and 10:10 p.m. on weekends.

“People in Magnolia rely on nighttime transit service to get to and from jobs, school, and cultural activities, and while this additional trip doesn’t fully satisfy the desires of the community, it will give people more options,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips, Magnolia resident and Chair of the King County Council’s Transportation, Economy, and Environment Committee. “Throughout King County, demand for transit service outpaces the funding Metro has available due to the Great Recession, so county leaders are reducing costs and reorganizing service to carry more riders with existing resources. But without a stable, permanent funding source for transit, we will unfortunately see deeper transit service cuts in the future.”

The additional late night trip on Route 24 is possible due to a small amount of reserve funding set aside in the large September service change in order to address operational problems that arose. Most of the reserve was spent addressing crowding and on-time performance problems as they occurred. Once things settled down, Metro determined that a later Magnolia trip could be added using remaining reserve funds.

While transit ridership and demand are growing sharply throughout King County, Metro has faced a significant gap between revenues and the cost of providing current levels of transit service since the Great Recession.

Metro and the County Council have taken many actions to manage this shortfall, including making deep cuts in staff positions and programs, raising fares four times in four consecutive years, implementing new efficiency measures identified in a performance audit, and partnering with employees to reduce labor costs. Despite those efforts, when reserves and temporary funding run out in 2014, Metro faces a $75 million annual shortfall unless permanent, stable funding is secured.

Using a new strategic plan and service guidelines approved by the County Council in 2011, Metro has been revamping the transit system to make it more efficient and productive—providing the most value for the public’s fare and tax dollars. Under that policy direction, nighttime transit service in Magnolia carried significantly fewer riders per hour than comparable service and was reduced in order to address overcrowding on other routes.