Drafter
Clerk 07/19/2013
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AN ORDINANCE relating to public transportation; adopting updates to the Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021 and King County Metro Service Guidelines; and amending Ordinance 17143, Section 4.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. The King County council adopted the King County Metro Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021 ("the strategic plan") and the King County Metro Service Guidelines ("service guidelines") in July 2011 via Ordinance 17143.
2. The regional transit task force recommended that the strategic plan and service guidelines focus on the balancing of productivity, social equity and geographic value in the distribution of transit service.
3. The strategic plan and service guidelines are meant to be living documents, setting the policy for and guiding the implementation of the Metro transit service network by responding to growth throughout the county and incorporating regular review of policies by the regional transit committee. The proposed 2013 updates of the strategic plan and service guidelines address the following concerns:
A. The adoption of certain system-wide service standards, policies and methodologies to determine whether proposed changes will have a discriminatory impact based on race, color or national origin or will result in a disproportionate burden on low-income populations, as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Federal Transit Administration Circular 4702.1B;
B. Implementation of alternative services methodologies by updating of the service guidelines consistent with strategies 2.1.4 and 6.2.4 adopted by Ordinance 17386 in July 2012;
C. Revisions of the service guidelines to clarify language and policy intent to provide greater transparency; and
D. Updating the strategic plan and service guidelines to better link growth in transit service with growth and changes in communities in order to implement Ordinance 17143, Section 8.
4. Access to transit is affected by many factors such as land use and development, roadways, bikeways and pedestrian facilities, park and rides and transit connectivity. Currently, Metro evaluates and estimates access to transit through two key measures: the number of jobs and households within one-quarter mile of a transit corridor and the number of jobs and households within two miles of a park-and-ride facility. These measures, however, do not account for the quality, availability or utilization of the infrastructure that supports access to transit, in particular park-and-rides and their role in aggregating transit riders in lower and moderate density areas. Additionally, the infrastructure is owned or operated by a diverse list of organizations, including the Washington state Department of Transportation, Sound Transit and other transit agencies, King County, individual cities, private organizations, including for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and a variety of partnerships. As a result of the diversity of ownership, cross-organizational planning tends to focus on project-specific access to transit, leaving an opportunity for a multiagency planning initiative that addresses the broader issue of access on a system-wide basis.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. The King County Metro Transit Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021 is hereby updated to incorporate one new strategy, an update to strategy 2.1.2 and updates to performance measures as provided in Attachment A to this ordinance.
SECTION 2. Ordinance 17143, Section 4, is hereby amended to read as follows:
The King County Metro Service Guidelines, dated July 17, 2013, which is Attachment B to ((Ordinance 17143)) this ordinance, are hereby adopted.
SECTION 3. A.1. By December 31, 2013, the executive shall transmit to the council and the regional transit committee, for acceptance by motion, a work plan to identify potential updates to the King County Metro Transit Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021, related to park and rides and other infrastructure supporting access to transit.
2. The executive shall convene a work group, including representation from the Puget Sound Regional Council, Washington state Department of Transportation, Sound Transit, the transit division, executive and legislative branch staff, individual cities and private-sector representatives, to develop the work plan.
3. The work plan shall include the timelines, milestones, lead agency or jurisdiction and scope to identify:
a. the role of park and rides and other community infrastructure related to access to transit;
b. industry best practices and innovative approaches to improve access to transit capacity including but not limited to parking management, technology, non-motorized corridors, and transportation demand management;
c. options for regional needs reporting and funding of access to transit infrastructure;
d. model policy language that supports access to transit through transit-oriented communities and infrastructure; and
e. potential updates to the Strategic Plan for Public Transportation and Metro Service Guidelines to clarify the role, measurement and funding of access to transit as they relate to the King County Metro transit system.
4. The work plan shall be filed in the form of a paper original and electronic copy with the clerk of the council, who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers and members of the regional transit committee.
B. A report on the subjects described in subsection A.3.a. and b. of this section shall be transmitted by December 31, 2014, for consideration by the regional transit committee and receipt of the report shall be acknowledge by the council by motion. The report shall be filed in the form of a paper original and electronic copy with the clerk of the council, who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers and members of the regional transit committee.
C. A report or reports on the subjects described in subsection A.3. c., d. and e. of this section shall be transmitted by December 31, 2015, for consideration by the regional transit committee and receipt of the report or reports shall be acknowledged by the council by motion. The report or reports shall be filed in the form of a paper original and electronic copy with the clerk of the council, who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers and members of the regional transit committee.
SECTION 4. By April 30, 2014, the executive shall transmit to the council and regional transit committee, for acknowledgement of receipt by motion, a report evaluating alternative measures for use in identifying crowded services and the related transit service investment needs. These could include capacity measures that are not based on the number of seats on the bus. The intent of this work is to consider whether alternative measures or further changes of thresholds for passengers to seats should be used to determine overcrowding. The report shall be filed in the form of a paper original and electronic copy with the clerk of the council, who shall retain the original and
provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers and members of the regional transit committee.