'Transit Now' turns one, Metro service expands again

Narrator Says:

February of 2008 meant a whole lot more to King County Metro Transit than just its usual service changes.

‘Transit Now’, a voter-approved initiative that promises up to 20 percent more bus service by 2016 turned one year old. And service has already expanded significantly.

Metro added more than 38, 000 hours of service in 2007, after ‘Transit Now’ passed in late 2006.

This included improved service to lower Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, First Hill, Ballard, The U-District, as well as several south King County routes.

In addition to that service, 16,000 hours were added for this year’s February service change to revise more than 30 eastside routes and add two new routes between Bellevue and Redmond.

With all that new service in place, Metro will turn its attention to neighborhoods in east and south King County that currently have fewer service options.

By the end of 2008 a total of 100,000 new hours of service will be in place.

At a ceremony announcing the opening of the Redmond Transit Center, Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond announced that all this new service comes just in time. Because riders are flocking to Metro buses in record numbers.

Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond Says:

We're coming off a really terrific year at Metro transit and really our region's transit. We had our highest ridership ever in 2007 with over 110 million boardings on our bus system and another 3 million boardings on our Vanpool, Vanshare, and Paratransit systems, Accessible Services. It was a little over a year ago, that voters passed, or gave us approval for 'Transit Now', where we could start pumping in new resources, desperately needed resources for our transit system in this region and that's going to serve this facility very well in the years to come.

Narrator Says:

The new Redmond Transit Center is part of another Metro milestone that will be rolled out in 2010.

RapidRide, though still in developmental stages, will provide 10 to 15 minute frequency along five key transit corridors.

The Redmond Transit Center will be part of the corridor connecting Bellevue and Redmond.

These are the concept buses for RapidRide, European style hybrids to go along with contemporary bus shelters to maintain speed and reliability.

This spring, Metro will break ground on a 380-stall parking garage across the street from the Redmond Transit Center and plans to have it finished by June of 2009.

This massive effort of putting new service in place couldn’t be done by Metro alone, King County Executive Ron Sims says it’s a group effort.

King County Executive Ron Sims Says:

And I said it occurs for several reasons. One, great partners. Two, superb elected officials. And three, great citizens, great passengers. We couldn't be in a more unique place to be a model for the rest of the country. So I want to thank our riders, I want to thank our elected officials, I want to thank our partners, I want to thank the citizens of King County for being such supporters of public transportation so we can continue to make investments in things like this.