King County Metro officials have raised bus driver pay dramatically while neglecting some promised service increases. Now, the wages threaten to cut into existing service.
Transit demand should continue to fall through the year, owing to fuel prices and high unemployment. But the demand for new transit taxes, based on last year's rise in usage, will not go away.
King County Executive Ron Sims has his own inconvenient truth to convey: Tolls are inevitable on all major Seattle-area freeways. And he already has a plan for us to discuss.