Voters should decide transit merger idea

  • Jeanne Edwards / State Representative
  • Friday, May 3, 2002 9:00pm
  • Local News

By Jeanne Edwards

State Representative

This fall Snohomish County voters will have a say in deciding our state’s transportation future. Unfortunately, they will not have a say in deciding a simple matter that would have improved the transportation system in their own community.

Community Transit is subsidizing Everett Transit at a cost of $4 million per year. By providing more than 1.2 million trips annually to Everett residents, while Everett Transit provides a mere 225,000 trips yearly to county residents who live outside of Everett, Community Transit is shouldering an unfair burden of the transit service in Snohomish County.

County residents who live outside of Everett are getting stuck with the tab, too. Everett residents pay a 0.3 percent transit sales tax to fund Everett Transit. Snohomish County residents in the suburbs and rural communities outside of Everett pay a 0.9 percent transit sales tax to fund Community Transit. The result is a county transportation system that is duplicative, expensive and inefficient — the reason no other county in our state has such an arrangement.

During the 2002 Legislature, I sponsored a measure that would have given Snohomish County voters the opportunity to decide whether or not to consolidate Everett Transit and Community Transit. I proposed this measure because the merger of these agencies would result in tremendous cost savings, increased service and tax fairness for all of the citizens of Snohomish County. Unfortunately, the legislation was blocked in the House Transportation Committee.

Despite this setback, I will to continue to push for this merger because it is the right thing to do for Snohomish County.

Consolidating these agencies would generate about $14 million above what the two systems currently collect on their own — $12 million in new revenue and $2 million in cost savings. This additional revenue would enable Community Transit to double current local weekday bus service all over Snohomish County, including service in Everett.

Furthermore, this merger would not cost any jobs. In fact, all Everett Transit staff would be retained by Community Transit to provide expanded bus service. And these employees would continue to earn the same salary they receive under their current contract.

With Snohomish County motorists and transit riders experiencing some of the worst traffic congestion in the nation, it is urgent that we build a more efficient transportation system. Our clogged roads reduce time we could be spending with our families, pollute our air and hurt our economy by delaying the delivery of goods to their destinations.

As we seek to improve our transportation system, it is critical that we strengthen public confidence that we are spending tax dollars wisely. We are not passing this test in Everett.

The citizens of Snohomish County deserve a transit system that is among the most efficient and innovative in the nation. We need to provide public transportation solutions that make this an attractive place for employers and keep companies like Boeing in the Northwest. Starting with the merger of Everett Transit and Community Transit, we can begin to build the public trust that will restore our region’s quality of life and ensure that Snohomish County remains a vibrant place to live.

Rep. Jeanne Edwards, D-Bothell, is a member of the House Transportation Committee. Her district, Legislative District 1, includes areas of Mountlake Terrace, Brier and Lynnwood.

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