New Study: Transit Now tax increase will not reduce traffic congestion

Seattle - Washington Policy Center (WPC), the state's premier state-based research and education organization, today released a new study, "Guide to Transit Now: A proposed sales tax increase to fund additional King County public transit services."� The proposal would increase the County sales tax by 0.1% to pay for more Metro buses, and would permanently increase the size of the state's largest transit agency by about 20%.

The study author is analyst Michael Ennis, Director of WPC's Center for Transportation Policy. The purpose of the study is to provide the public with an independent analysis of how Transit Now would affect traffic, transit services and the tax burden County government places on citizens.

The study examines Metro's past record and finds that the agency has failed to deliver the level of service it promised when voters approved the last sales tax increase in 2000.

"The decision to spend taxes on public transportation is a huge responsibility,"� Ennis says. "It's important for voters to understand how the tax burden adds up and what they expect can reasonably expect in return."�

The report finds that:

• When the last sales tax increase passed in 2000, Metro promised over 500,000 hours of new service. Since then, Metro has only delivered 203,000 hours of new service.
• The new buses promised under "Transit Now"� would not arrive until 2009. Consumers would pay the higher tax for two years before receiving any substantial increase in service.
• King County would collect the higher sales tax indefinitely. Under Transit Now, County sales tax revenues would pass the $1 billion mark by 2025. Presently, sales tax revenue is $355 million a year.
• Despite years of spending growth, the share of commuters using public transit has remained unchanged for 26 years. Past experience shows that adding more buses does not increase public transit’s overall share of passenger demand.
• 90% of daily passenger trips are by private automobile, a figure that has remained unchanged even as Metro has expanded in recent decades.
• Adding the recent gas tax increases with several pending transportation proposals, including Transit Now, a Seattle resident is facing an additional $600 per year for transportation related projects, compared to just a few years ago.

"The sales tax increase will max King County's current sales tax authority,"� says President Dann Mead Smith. "It will in effect, eliminate an important future budget tool for policymakers."�

For more information please contact Lyndsey Hartje at 206-937-9691 or at lhartje@washingtonpolicy.org.