SEATTLE – The Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT) second annual performance report about voter-approved Proposition 1 is now available. In 2014, Seattle voters approved Prop 1 to create and fund the Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD). Winning 62 percent approval, the STBD was charged with purchasing increased Metro service and transit programs for Seattle residents. The funding measure includes a $60 vehicle license fee and 0.1% sales tax increase to generate about $50 million annually to improve transit availability and access for 6 years (2015-2020).
Building on our success in the first year of the program when we added 270,000 annual service hours on 68 routes, the Year 2 report shows that the voters’ investment continues to reap big transit dividends.
Below are some highlights from the report.
Seattle voters were told they would get increased Seattle-specific Metro service:
- STBD increased service by more than 30 percent on key Transit routes.
- In two years, STBD increased access to frequent transit service from 25 percent to 64 percent of households.
Seattle residents meant it when they voted for this local Metro boost:
- Ridership is up across the board on our RapidRide lines, including a 40 percent increase on Rapid Ride C, with all three routes meeting their scheduled frequency nearly 80 percent of the time.
Our commitment to prioritize social justice in our bus service is working:
- Working with King County Metro, the percentage of low-income residents using ORCA Lift, our discounted ORCA card program, has nearly doubled, going from 11 percent of eligible riders, to almost 20 percent.
- We’ve gotten pre-paid ORCA Cards to 2,680 low-income middle and high school students, generating 440,000 student ORCA Card trips and saving $648,000 for them and their families.
The Seattle Transportation Benefit District Year 2 Performance Report outlines Seattle’s commitment to transit service, summarizes the transit investments to date, program performance, and describes the Transportation Equity-related programs of Youth ORCA, ORCA LIFT, and the Vehicle License Fee Rebate.
See the full STBD Year 2 Performance Report at http://www.seattle.gov/transit.