New round of Metro bus cuts would eliminate 16 routes, revise or reduce 32 others

SEATTLE -- King County Executive Dow Constantine on Tuesday sent the County Council a proposal to eliminate 16 more Metro bus routes and revise or reduce 32 others in February.

This would be the second round of Metro bus cuts in two years.

"With the Council we worked hard to deliver bus service within the revenues available, and without spending money Metro does not have," Constantine said in a news release. "More service reductions are ahead, as we await long-overdue action by the Legislature on a statewide transportation package that can restore sustainable funding for transit."

The Council this summer already approved a first round of 151,000 hours of service reductions to take effect later this month, on Sept. 27.

Taken together, the two rounds would cut 320,000 of the transit agency's 3.5 million annual service hours. Additional service reductions will be examined as part of King County's upcoming biennial budget process, Constantine said.

If voters in Seattle approve the "Seattle transit initiative" in November, the February service cuts within the city would be postponed until June 2015 to provide time for Seattle to find the money to keep their routes intact. Seattle and others could also contract to restore services slated to be cut Sept. 27.

Under the proposal,

February 2015 service changes