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AN ORDINANCE related to the public transportation and the June 2012 and Winter 2013 reduction or elimination of low performing fixed-route bus service and reinvestment of resources into priorities established within the King County Metro Transit Strategic Plan 2011-2021 and Service Guidelines as adopted by Ordinance 17143.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. The transit service changes proposed for June 2012 reduce or eliminate low performing routes throughout King County and invest resources into priorities identified in the newly adopted service guidelines. The priorities are relieve standing loads, improve on-time performance, and increase service levels on corridors deemed underserved.
2. The transit service changes proposed for June 2012 are consistent with adopted plan and budget priorities, as well as the recommendation of the regional transit task force.
3. The transit service changes implement the Congestion Reduction Plan adopted by Ordinance 17168 guiding expenditures of revenue collected from the imposition of a two-year congestion reduction charge of twenty dollars on vehicle registrations renewals in King County.
4. Ordinance 17169 imposing a two-year congestion reduction charge of twenty dollars on vehicle registrations renewals in King County in accordance with Chapter 373, Laws of Washington 2011, requires at a minimum during the period in which the congestion reduction charge is imposed, one hundred thousand of the lowest productivity service hours shall be reduced or restructured and the resulting service hours savings reinvested consistent with the King County Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021 and Service Guidelines.
5. The June 2012 proposed transit service change involves reduction and reinvestment of approximately thirty-six thousand annual service hours.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. The June 2012 and Winter 2013 public transportation service improvements for King County, substantially as described in Attachment A to this ordinance, are hereby approved.
SECTION 2. These transportation service changes will be implemented effective June 9, 2012, and the elimination of Route 42 will be effective with the Winter 2013 service change.
SECTION 3. The approximately thirty-six thousand annual hours of service represented by these service reductions shall be reinvested in accordance with the newly adopted service guideline priorities. The priorities are to relieve standing loads, improve
on-time performance, increase service levels on corridors deemed underserved and offset the fall 2010 service change overage.
SECTION 4. A community-developed proposal has emerged as an option to meet rider needs in the southeast Seattle and Rainier Valley-area. The council is committed to the Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021, but at the same time, is committed to adequately engaging communities and stakeholders. In an effort to ensure equitable discussions with all riders and stakeholders of potentially affected bus routes, the council has deferred the elimination of Route 42 until Winter 2013, and the executive is directed to collectively engage the riders and stakeholders associated with Routes 8, 42, and any other bus routes directly affected by potential service change concepts, as well as representatives of the council, city of Seattle and Sound Transit, in order to solicit feedback regarding possible changes to both transit routes. It is council's intent to review the results of this outreach in order to identify and implement any alternatives to the elimination of Route 42, that are also consistent with the Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021 and the King County Metro Service Guidelines. The results of these discussions must:
A. Demonstrate engagement regarding the transit strategic plan, and specific options and alternatives through the public review, at times that are convenient to the general public, of:
1. Related policy, service and ridership changes;
2. The county's understanding of the community's public transportation needs;
3. The potential changes in service hours, ridership and productivity of all options; and
4. How potential alternatives measure against the adopted fair and just guiding principles, as defined in Ordinance 16948, as well as the factors of geographic value and social equity identified in the Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2011-2021;
B. Demonstrate that while service hours for individual routes may increase or decrease, there should be no net change in total service hours; and
C. Be transmitted to the council by August 1, 2012, in the form of a report, in order to influence the executive's proposal of Winter 2013 service changes. The report shall be filed in the form of a paper original and an electronic copy with the clerk of the council, who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers and to lead staff for transportation, economy and environment committee or its successors.
SECTION 5. A. The executive is directed to implement a southeast Seattle outreach program, carried out in consultation with community groups and the public that will:
1. Improve passenger facilities and transfer connections between Metro transit routes as well as between Metro Transit services and Sound Transit's Link Light Rail;
2. Provide opportunities for increased access to ORCA fare media; and
3. Ensure maximum awareness and use of alternative transit services for people with disabilities, seniors and other southeast Seattle residents who have limited transportation access to jobs, education, health care, nutrition and other human services.
B. Phase 1 of the outreach program shall be completed by June 8, 2012, and shall include, but not be limited to:
1. Metro Transit, in coordination with Sound Transit and the city of Seattle, engaging in a public outreach and education program for Metro Transit services in southeast Seattle, which shall include the input of community organizations and agencies representing people with disabilities, seniors, minorities, people for whom English is a non-native language, and other transit-dependent residents, including current riders of Routes 7, 8, 39 and 42 and other Metro Transit and Sound Transit services in the area;
2. Working with the city of Seattle to obtain and review community input on additional bus stop locations and pedestrian crossings along Martin Luther King Jr. Way South or Rainier Avenue South and existing bus stop locations where bench, lighting or shelter improvements would enhance customers' comfort, safety and access to Metro Transit bus routes;
3. Providing information about alternative transit services for people with disabilities, seniors, minorities, people for whom English is a non-native language, and other transit-dependent southeast Seattle residents needing access to jobs, education, health care, nutrition and other human services. These alternative services may provide access and mobility between Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and Rainier Avenue South, South Dearborn Street, the Central Area, Little Saigon, the Chinatown-International District, and downtown Seattle. Information may be provided about services for eligible categories of individuals such as Access paratransit, the Hyde Shuttle, and Job Access Reverse Commute vans, and may also include information about vanpool and rideshare services;
4. Implementing strategies and actions to increase access to ORCA fare media to local residents and low-income transit riders including on-site registrations for ORCA cards and senior/disabled and youth regional reduced fare permits, at neighborhood service centers, human services agencies and other locations throughout southeast Seattle; and
5. Transmitting a report to the council by June 8, 2012, summarizing phase 1 activities and projected phase 2 activities. The report shall be filed in the form of a paper original and an electronic copy with the clerk of the council, who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers and to lead staff for transportation, economy and environment committee or its successors.
C. Phase 2 of this outreach program shall be completed by October 31, 2012, and shall include, but not be limited to:
1. Completing physical improvements to the bus zone to be relocated on Rainier Avenue South at Stevens Plaza adjacent to the Mt. Baker Link Station, including the provision of shelter and lighting. This bus stop is primarily for Metro Transit rider connections with Link Light Rail and for transfers between Metro Transit Routes 7 and 8. Further, Metro Transit will coordinate with the Seattle Department of Transportation Rainier Corridor Improvement Program to provide space for equipment and required electric or communications connections for future real time passenger information at this bus zone;
2. Completing other bus zone improvements identified in phase 1 for implementation during phase 2;
3. Continuing transit mobility option outreach and ORCA card outreach activities in response to needs identified in phase 1;
4. Convening additional community outreach activities as identified in phase 1; and
5. Transmitting a report to the council by October 31, 2012, summarizing all phase 2 activities and identifying future southeast Seattle activities. The report shall be filed in the form of a paper original and an electronic copy with the clerk of the council,
who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers and to lead staff for transportation, economy and environment committee or its successors.