Regional Transit Task Force

Task force recommends policies to guide transit service investments

King County formed the Regional Transit Task Force in March 2010 to consider a policy framework to guide service investments or—if necessary—contraction of the King County Metro Transit system.

The Metropolitan King County Council directed the County Executive to form the task force when it adopted the 2010 county budget. The council later issued guidelines for the tas k force.

The task force was formed as Metro was facing competing pressures: on one hand, strong demand for transit services countwide; on the other, rising costs and a steep decline in sales-tax revenues—an important source of Metro’s funding.

In this context, the task force was asked to identify short-term and long-term objectives for transit service investment, and to formulate a service implementation policy based on those objectives.

Members

The task force was made up of municipal and community stakeholders appointed by King County Executive Dow Constantine, plus three nonvoting members. A consultant facilitated the task force. read member bios

Regional Transit Task Force Members

Category

Name

Accessible services

Jane Kuechle

Economic development

Kate Joncas

Economic development

Christine Hoffman

Economic development

Tom Pierson

Education

Larry Yok

Education

Josh Kavanagh

Elected official

Suzette Cooke

Elected official

Noel Gerken

Elected official

Tom Rasmussen

Elected official

Chris Eggen

Elected official

Grant Degginger

Elected official

Fred Butler

Environmental

Rob Johnson

Environmental

Chuck Ayers

Organized labor

Carl Jackson

Organized labor

David Freiboth

Puget Sound Regional Council

Bob Drewel

Rider

Bob Swarner

Rider

Carla Saulter

Rider

Shiv Batra

Social services

Estela Ortega

Social services

Lynn Moody

Trip reduction

Liz Warman

Trip reduction

Jim Stanton

Transportation expert

Steve Marshall

Transportation expert

Jared Smith

Transit Advisory Committee

Ed Miller

Nonvoting member

Kevin Desmond

Nonvoting member

Ron Tober (replaced by Greg Walker starting in September)

Nonvoting member

Gene Baxstrom

Final report

The task force completed its work on Oct. 21, 2010 and transmitted its report and recommendations to the King County Council and County Executive on Monday, Nov. 8. The task force participated in three public forums at which members discussed their recommendations. The report, presentations and other materials are available below.

Full report [1.2 MB PDF]
Executive summary only [315 KB PDF]
Materials from Nov. 5 news conference and Transportation Choices Coalition forum
- News conference video
- Task force presentation [62 KB PDF]
Presentation [53 KB PDF] to County Council Committee of the Whole, Nov. 8
King County Executive Constantine's Nov. 5, 2010 news release
A new direction for King County Metro transit policy - Seattle Times guest column by task force members Suzette Cook and Tom Rasmussen

Progress reports

The Regional Transit Task Force issued its report and recommendations in November 2010. Since then, Metro and King County have followed the task force's guidance, taking a number of major steps forward.

Mid-year report, May 2012 [63 KB PDF]

Year-one progress report, December 2011 [140 KB PDF]

Muni League honors task force

The Municipal League of King County honored the Regional Transit Task Force with its James R. Ellis Regional Leadership Award for 2011. The award recognizes the task force for its work to clarify transit service priorities during a time of budget reductions.