Seattle Transit

Seattle Transit

Seattle’s current transit capacity is far below what is needed to serve its population. As population increases our current system will fall even farther behind what is needed. But since Seattle doesn’t currently control its transit future, we are unable to grow the system to meet our needs.

I propose that Seattle take control of transit, in corporation with larger entities like Metro and Sound Transit, by directing Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to include transit planning. SDOT would consider what transit opportunities existed and make proposals to the city council to improve transit. These proposals could include re-purposing roads (e.g. 3rd avenue as bus only), funding increased Metro bus or passenger-ferry service, or building and operating a monorail or trolley.

This proposal doesn’t call out any particular transit solution or funding mechanism. Those will need to come out of study by professional transportation planners and elected officials. All this proposal does is knowledge that the current system can’t work, and create a mechanism for Seattle better meet her needs.

Why Metro Alone Won’t Work
King County is one of the most diverse in the country, ranging from nearly Manhattan densities in downtown and Belltown to rural land in the east (see Table 1). This complicates transit planning due to the equity arrangement: when Metro increases service, 20% of the new service is in the Seattle area and 80% to the rest of the county. This leads to two problems for Seattle: we can only increase the total service to the amount that the whole county is willing to pay for and for every $1 that Seattle increases its tax burden only 67 cents is spent in Seattle.

Every transit line has an ideal amount of service, which depends on many factors, but the single best predictor of how much transit an area needs is the density. Seattle’s density is nearly twice that of Bellevue’s and nearly 10 times the rest of the county. The ideal amount of transit is higher in Seattle than in the rest of the county. But the current funding formula does not give Metro the flexibility of putting the resources where there is demand. In addition Seattle voters have shown a much greater interest in funding transit, but transit proposals need to be watered down to win enough votes outside of Seattle.

So Metro alone can’t provide Seattle with the transit options it needs. Even if the funding levels were changed to represent the population, Metro would still be unable to provide Seattleites the transit options they want and need.


Seattle Bellevue Woodinville King Count King Count minus Seattle
Population (thousand people) 582 117 9 1737 1155
% of population 33 7 0.5 0.8 67
Density (thousand people per sq mile) 6.9 3.8 1.6 0.8 0.6

Table 1 Demographics for King County (for 2006 from the Census Bureau)

Principles of Seattle Transit

My vision is that the city of Seattle work towards a transit system that meets the needs of its citizens. This work is in corporation with other transit agencies, not in competition. The vision would follow certain principals:

• Goal of SDOT is to move goods and people, not vehicles.

• Another goal is to reduce the number of vehicle miles driven in Seattle even as the population grows.

• A third goal is that no one should have to watch full buses drive past. If a line is that popular more resources need to be quickly added. The extra buses will lead to shorter wait times, which may induce greater usage and more full buses.

• A fourth goal is that from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. you should be able to get from any urban village in Seattle to UW and downtown in no more than one hour.

• If transit is getting stuck in auto traffic, then a grade-separated solution should be sought.

• When doing cost-benefit analysis include all costs, including the cost of driving incurred by the driver and pollution.

• If we fund extra service on a Metro route, the fare box on that route is shared as a percentage of funding (i.e. if Seattle pays for 1 bus on a route and King County pays for 4 buses, then Seattle gets a credit of 20% of the fare collected by all buses on that route).