[nfbwatlk] FW: [BALLARDNORTHWEST] City Funds More Bus Service in Seattle

[Jacob Struiksma]

SDOT News Release

 

For Immediate Release: October 1, 2010

 

Contact:  Marybeth Turner (206) 684-8548

 

	
	
		

City Funds More Bus Service in Seattle

Bridging the Gap pays for 14,800 more hours annually on routes 5, 7, 30, 60
and 75

 

SEATTLE - The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) announced today
that beginning Saturday, October 2, the City of Seattle will help fund
14,800 new hours of King County Metro Transit bus service. The new hours are
designed to make buses a better transportation option for more people. The
new trips include route extensions to improve mobility in and between
numerous Seattle neighborhoods.

  

Thanks to the voter-approved Bridging the Gap transportation levy, bus
riders throughout many Seattle neighborhoods will enjoy an increase in
service on routes 5, 7, 30, 60 and 75. The city is using $1.5 million in
levy funds to purchase additional bus hours for Seattle residents through
the county's Transit Now program. The program will continue for the next
five years.

 

"These new service hours are vital for helping the city meet its goal of
making walking, biking and transit more accessible to all residents," said
SDOT Director Peter Hahn. "In a time of tight budgets, the city is working
through Bridging the Gap to help our partner Metro add hours and better
serve Seattle bus riders." 

 

This increase builds on hours previously added to the 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11,
12, 13, 14, 26, 28, 44 and 48 bus lines in 2008 and 2009. This allotment
brings the new bus service added to approximately 45,000 hours per year -
the equivalent of ten buses running more than twelve hours per day 365 days
per year.

 

These service additions support Mayor McGinn's Walk Bike Ride initiative and
its goal of making walking, biking and riding the easiest way to move around
our city. Purchasing more bus service for these routes moves the city closer
to its goal of having a network of reliable transit service running every 15
minutes or better, all day and late into the evening, seven days a week on
corridors connecting neighborhoods with active business centers. Frequent,
reliable transit service offers people options to driving and helps fight
global warming. 

 

Approved by voters in 2006, the $365 million Bridging the Gap levy enables
much needed work by the Seattle Department of Transportation, such as
roadway paving, sidewalk development and repair, bridge upkeep, and tree
pruning and planting. It also supports the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master
plans, the Safe Routes to School program, enhanced transit connections and
large Neighborhood Street Fund projects.          

 

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