Summary

Story

Today the King County Council’s Transportation, Economy and Environment Committee unanimously approved a compromise proposal that authorizes more than half of the needed bus service cuts. The legislation was introduced by Councilmembers Phillips, McDermott, Gossett and Upthegrove in yesterday’s full Council meeting but was rejected.

“I want to thank the Executive and Chair Phillips for working on a proposal that I could at least hold my nose and vote for,” said Councilmember Dave Upthegrove. “It took a little longer than everyone hoped, but I am pleased that the current ‘Majority Coalition’ decided to vote for the same proposal today that they rejected yesterday. I’m not sure what caused them to change their minds, but I am grateful that the Executive and Council Chair brought this proposal to us yesterday and that it is finally moving forward.”

The new proposal permits Metro to move forward with cutting 350,000 hours of bus service and creates an ad-hoc committee of Councilmembers and the Executive to further evaluate how service cuts will be implemented in 2015.

“Let’s be clear, when it comes to transit cuts, there are no winners,” said Councilmember Joe McDermott, who chairs the Budget & Fiscal Management Committee. “The Executive negotiated this proposal as a compromise to the Majority Coalition’s proposal. I voted for this compromise because it contains two items absent from what they first approved. First, this proposal is more fiscally responsible because it better aligns our expenditures with actual revenues. Second, it stays true to Metro’s Strategic Plan, which was developed to keep the politics out of bus route decisions. This legislation is not perfect, but it’s time to move forward. Bus riders need some certainty about whether their bus will still serve them.”

The proposal now moves to the full Council for consideration on Monday, July 21.

Watch all Council proceedings held in chambers LIVE on King County TV

on Comcast and Wave Cable on channel 22, or online at:
www.kingcounty.gov/KCTV

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