Expanding transportation options today

It was 86 degrees today in Issaquah for the opening of the new Issaquah Transit Center. The best part of today’s event? The christening of the facility using a bottle of Issaquah Brewhouse ale. Usually, I’d hate to see a good ale spilled, but it was for a good cause.

If you’ve ever been to Issaquah Salmon days, what used to be the parking lot is now a multi-story garage for park ‘n riders.

The new transit center will serve people commuting between Seattle, Mercer Island, Eastgate and the Issaquah Highlands. Seven of every 10 buses that stop there will be run by King County Metro, with Sound Transit providing the rest. That’s real regional transportation improvement.

I’ve been to a few of these lately: King County Metro opened the Redmond Transit Center earlier this year and just last week announced construction of an expanded transit center in Burien that will give residents there more options when construction begins on the Alaskan Way viaduct. I look forward to being able to share more news like this.

Fuel increase means fare increase

Earlier today I briefed the media on my proposal for a 25-cent increase in Metro Transit bus fares to offset the huge jump in the cost of diesel fuel that runs our buses. This was a very difficult choice because we are seeing record ridership each month. But I will not cut service when we need it most.

Some transit agencies have been forced to reduce service, but I believe this modest fare increase will help us maintain current service levels and roll out some additional service to meet the increased ridership demand while we see where gas prices are going.

We’ve looked for other options, like reducing other transit costs, but the increase in fuel prices is dramatic and unprecedented in our recent history as shown below.

Per gallon price of diesel fuel has been increasing since 2003

Interestingly, former Labor Secretary of Labor Robert Reich recently blogged about the need for more transit as gas prices rise. I wholeheartedly agree.

We are not the only ones facing this difficult choice. Transit agencies across our region and across the country are all grappling with the same problem: how to pay for fuel that has increased in cost far beyond even expanded projections, just as we’re seeing unprecedented demand for transit. King County-Metro Transit surpassed 400,000 average daily boardings recently for the first time and we expect that trend to continue.

We are already starting Transit Now service expansions and will have another service increase in the fall, which will help reduce crowding on some routes.

If approved by the King County Council, the fare increase would take effect in October. By then, we hope to have a better idea of whether the gas price increases are here to stay and what other options we may have for dealing with them. You can read more about the proposed increase here.

Meantime, have a wonderful Independence Day and weekend.