Metro Transit is asking the King County Council for a temporary $20 annual surcharge on licensed vehicles as a stop-gap measure to maintain bus service. Metro has announced that if the council doesn’t approve the surcharge, it will have to cut up to 600,000 service hours – or 17 percent of current bus routes – in 2012 and 2013.
According to Metro’s proposal, routes 5 and 28, which serve Phinney Ridge and Greenwood, will be hit hard.
Route 28, which runs along 8th Avenue NW, would be severely cut. The 28 Express would be reduced or revised, and the 28 Local would be eliminated.
Both the Local and Express service on Route 5, which runs along Greenwood Avenue North, would be reduced or revised.
You can weigh in on the issue at three public meetings, including one tonight in Kirkland (6 p.m., Kirkland City Council Chambers, 123 Fifth Ave.); at 6 p.m. next Tuesday, July 12, at the King County Courthouse, Council Chambers, 516 Third Ave., Seattle; and at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 21, at the Burien City Council Chambers, 400 SW 152nd St., Burien.
If you can’t make it to one of the public hearings, you can submit your comments to the council online.
Click here for a complete list of all routes and whether the proposal calls for them to be eliminated, reduced or remain unchanged. Click here for a map of all affected routes in Northwest Seattle.
Thanks to Sara and Keith for the tips and links!