The Beginning of The End
In 2008, the price of fuel skyrocketed. All of the people barely able to afford their new and overpriced McMansion out in the boonies suddenly couldn't afford to get to work. Foreclosures followed. They continue. Until home prices get down to pre-bubble levels, they will continue.
Some were able to hop on a bus to work. Ridership at work skyrocketed, even after raising the fare for the first time in 9 years.
Then, the fallout really hit: by late November of 2008, ridership - and, more ominously, traffic - dropped. The economy nearly tanked. Refer to any number of documentaries on what happened.
Since then the sales tax and property tax funding for transit has been dropping at the same time the price of bus fuel has held fairly steady. It has finally come to this: either the King County Council approves a two-year $20 per year surcharge on car licensing, or service will be cut to Holy Shit! levels, meaning 17 percent of the Metro bus system. Really, download and peruse that linked PDF. The number of canceled routes should scare anyone who has ever ridden a bus in or near Seattle.
Last night, hundreds came to voice their concerns. They were not happy. More are expected at the next gathering, scheduled for Burien.
This is, as I mentioned in December, what the Gas Ceiling looks like. The economy can't afford fuel, so it tanks. Just as it recovers, fuel spikes again, leading to another economic downturn. Fuel prices always run just ahead of inflation.
What scares me most about this current kerfuffle, though, is the fact that the County Council is proposing a two-year surcharge fee for plates. They expect it will tide the transit system over until the promised recovery returns and boosts tax revenues back to pre-bust levels. Translation: They are in complete denial. What is needed immediately is, yes, a quick infusion of cash; but what is needed for the future is a restructuring of the taxes that fund transit, a new paradigm that gives public transit enough money every time the price of fuel rises.
The trouble is simple: How does one explain that necessity? To what history can one refer to cite precedence? After all, we have been extracting fossil fuels in growing earnest for 200 years now. The voices that could have guided us regarding sustainable development have been dead silent for centuries.
Some were able to hop on a bus to work. Ridership at work skyrocketed, even after raising the fare for the first time in 9 years.
Then, the fallout really hit: by late November of 2008, ridership - and, more ominously, traffic - dropped. The economy nearly tanked. Refer to any number of documentaries on what happened.
Since then the sales tax and property tax funding for transit has been dropping at the same time the price of bus fuel has held fairly steady. It has finally come to this: either the King County Council approves a two-year $20 per year surcharge on car licensing, or service will be cut to Holy Shit! levels, meaning 17 percent of the Metro bus system. Really, download and peruse that linked PDF. The number of canceled routes should scare anyone who has ever ridden a bus in or near Seattle.
Last night, hundreds came to voice their concerns. They were not happy. More are expected at the next gathering, scheduled for Burien.
This is, as I mentioned in December, what the Gas Ceiling looks like. The economy can't afford fuel, so it tanks. Just as it recovers, fuel spikes again, leading to another economic downturn. Fuel prices always run just ahead of inflation.
What scares me most about this current kerfuffle, though, is the fact that the County Council is proposing a two-year surcharge fee for plates. They expect it will tide the transit system over until the promised recovery returns and boosts tax revenues back to pre-bust levels. Translation: They are in complete denial. What is needed immediately is, yes, a quick infusion of cash; but what is needed for the future is a restructuring of the taxes that fund transit, a new paradigm that gives public transit enough money every time the price of fuel rises.
The trouble is simple: How does one explain that necessity? To what history can one refer to cite precedence? After all, we have been extracting fossil fuels in growing earnest for 200 years now. The voices that could have guided us regarding sustainable development have been dead silent for centuries.