Good afternoon. Welcome to the
JULY 15th, 2026 meeting of the
Regional Transit Committee. I
m
the chair, King County Council
member Steffanie Fain. We
re
going to start the meeting
today by calling roll. And
would you please call the roll?
Thank you. Chair. Deputy Mayor
Black here. Council member
Harris. Council PRESIDENT.
Honda here. All the way from
Washington, dc.
Thank you. PRESIDENT Pro Tem
McIrvin here. Council member
Stewart here. Deputy mayor
Taylor here. Council member
Troutner here. Mayor. Rubio.
Council member. Bhargava. Here.
Council member.
Shea here.
Council member. Goldman here.
Mayor. Mayhew here. Council
member. Rinke. Council member.
Rob Saka. Council member.
Foster. Council member. Perry.
Councilmember von Reichbauer.
Here. Chair. Fain.
Here.
Can you have a quorum?
Thank you. Um. I am very
excited to have Vice Chair
McIrvin here in chambers with
me this afternoon. Thank you
for being here. Would you
please, uh, move to approve the
minutes from our JUNE 17th
meeting?
Thank you, MADAM Chair. I move
approval of the minutes.
Thank you. All those in favor,
please say aye.
Aye. Aye.
Any opposed? All right. Thank
you. The minutes are approved.
All right. Well, it has been a
very busy few weeks. So before
we begin, I
d like to
congratulate Metro and all of
our region
s transit agencies
on an outstanding World Cup
performance. Yourselves. I know
the work is still ongoing until
the last game is over. With a
lot of watch parties around the
region. But, um, for the games
that were held here in Seattle,
you delivered exceptional
service and carried record
number of riders. And really
demonstrated and showed off our
regional transit system. And
you did that all with very
thoughtful, careful planning,
years long planning and
collaboration and regional
coordination. So it was a ton
of work, and we very much
appreciate it. Um, we did
spend, um, we had an
opportunity to have a joint
meeting with our transit
committee at the council
earlier this year. And so, um,
I
d like to think about an
opportunity to collaborate
again on a joint meeting.
Maybe, um, this fall to talk
about and reflect on, um,
lessons learned and things that
we can do going forward and
implement without World Cup
here. But for today, please
share this committee
s
appreciation to all of your
teams and operators and
maintenance crew workers and
everyone who participated in
the planning and the execution
of a very smooth transit
experience during World Cup. So
thank you. All right. Members,
today during our meeting we
re
going to focus on two very
important issues. First, we are
going to receive the briefing
that we postponed from our last
meeting on Metro
s next stop,
which is the planning effort,
um, for investments through the
late 2030s. And then we
re
going to receive an update on
the work Metro and, um, uh,
some of our regional partners
are doing to enhance safety and
security for our riders and
employees. First, however, we
are going to turn to public
comment. Uh, clerk do we have
anyone signed up for public
comment today?
Uh, chair we we do have one
person. Um, in in zoom. Sorry.
So any is there anyone in
chambers? All right, let
s call
on the person on zoom. And
before we get started, um, I
m
not sure if this person has
spoken here before, but we do
have the same rules, uh, in
this committee that we do at
the King County Council. And
that is to, um, you are allowed
to speak for two minutes and
everything must be related, or
your comments must be related
to the items on today
s meeting
agenda and not used for the
purpose of assisting a campaign
for election of any purpose to
any office, or for the
promotion of or opposition to
any ballot proposition. Um, and
if there are any, uh, if any
speech does violate those
restrictions, we will, uh, mute
you. So I will have you go
ahead and call on the person.
Uh, Joe, counselor.
Hi. Thanks, everybody. Joe.
Counselor. Here. Um, I want to
thank King County. Start by
thanking King County Metro for
your awesome service during the
airplane expo. Uh, last week, I
was able to buy a, uh, $18
transit pass and had a very
effective and safe, uh, transit
on King County Metro bus routes
and also the sexy light rail.
Um, I will also add here that I
fully support your efforts to
make transit more safe. Um, and
feel these are important
investments, uh, transit
operators are our limbs for
many of us in a disability
community. And I want to note
that on Disability Pride month,
um, I think it
s important to
do everything we can to keep
our wonderful transit operator
safe and appreciated for all
the hard work you do. And with
that, I don
t think I need to
take up my whole two minutes
and look forward to the
briefing on transit safety.
Thank you.
Thank you. Any other folks you
wish to speak?
Uh, no one else has our hand
raised chair.
Thank you very much. With that,
we will close public comment.
It does look like someone just
raised their hand. Apologies.
Um. Pink Park. Um.
Please go.
Ahead.
Hello. Thank you. For council
members. My name is Pankaj
Parag, and I
m a South Seattle
resident. And, uh, daily Metro
Choice writer. I
m here to, um,
shed some light on the problems
or, you know, all of the things
I have. And hoping that I can
do that in the next two
minutes. So I live at a 15
minute walk from the light
rail, but only two minutes away
from the route 106 bus stop. On
paper, I
m a transit target
audience in. In practice, when
the 106 is anywhere from 2 to
20 minutes away, the system
fails me. And like many others,
I end up driving. Unreliability
is actively driving commuters
back into cars. Right now, the
region is planning to spend up
to $214 million on the Graham
Street infill station. While
well-intentioned, this capital
heavy mega project creates
permanent pedestrian hazards
and years of traffic
disruption. If we instead
directed those millions towards
bus service hours, we could
instantly create a high
frequency grid on neighborhoods
like mine, moving people safely
and reliably without a decade
of construction. I know Metro
faces a $755 million reserve
shortfall by 2033, but trying
to solve this one on the backs
of riders through fare
collection is a losing game. In
2025, the Metro collected $78
million in fares, but the
nonpayment still sat at 35%. To
show is that we spent million
on Arkansas infrastructure,
administrative overhead and
enforcement. We are paying a
massive premium to enforce the
system that is already
functionally an honor system. I
urge this council to lead a
transition to a frequent, free
and fair model, eliminate fares
to speed up boarding, and
redirect those collection
savings into an onboard safe
ambassador and mandatory end of
run sweeps to address safety
and loop riding to replace the
revenue. I propose that we
establish a regional transit
payroll tax on our wealthiest
corporate employers. Treat
transit as a public utility? It
is, and we will decongest our
roads and meet our climate
goals.
Thank you. I appreciate your
public comment and I apologize
for having to cut you off, but
I, did receive your written
public comments and we will
share those with the committee
if we haven
t already. And as
well as Metro. Thank you. Any
other.
Um, I
m not seeing any other
hands raised at this time.
Chair.
Great. Thank you. All right. We
will close public comment.
Next, uh, we will have the
opportunity to hear from our
general manager. Um, Michelle
Allison, on the latest and
greatest for Metro. Thank you.
Thank you so much for having us
here today. Thank you, chair,
and members of the committee.
It
s really good to be back.
After a busy couple of weeks,
Metro, as you noted, Metro and
our transit partners really
rose to the occasion for the
World Cup. Anything that moved,
whether it was a boat or a lime
scooter, but especially the
buses and the light rails and
the shuttles, really did the
heavy lifting for our region.
And it was incredible to watch
and see the creativity, the
customer service and the
dedication to the system and to
the region. So hopefully you
all got to experience it as
well. It was quite an energetic
event for us. We
ve also
celebrated Juneteenth and Pride
and the 4th of JULY and the
beginning of baseball season,
and the return of cruise ships.
So no rest for the weary at
Metro. What we are hearing is
that the World Cup fans really
enjoyed the ease of getting to
Seattle Stadium for their
matches, and also really
important to our system that
regular riders were still able
to get to work and to use our
system as well. So really
managing both of those
ridership populations was
really important to us across
six match days, the region
tallied an estimated 3.4
million boardings on King
County Metro and Sound Transit.
Overall, Metro estimates 1.9
million boardings across its
buses, boats, shuttles and
streetcars, and Sound Transit
estimates 1.5 million boardings
on Link light rail. Both the
one and the two line. There are
still watch parties going for
the games this week, and we are
going to encourage people to
use transit to get there and
back. It is still a very, very
energetic Pioneer Square for us
down here in downtown. And as
you noted, chair, later this
fall, we will come back with
more information, both on data,
but also really importantly,
lessons learned. And we
re
considering these lessons not
just for large scale
international events, but also
items that can help our system
every day. How can we help
interagency planning? We did an
incredible amount of work
across jurisdictions, also with
different transit partners. One
of those lessons will live on
so we can continue to improve
the customer experience
regardless of your mode or
transit agency that you depend
on. So we
re looking forward to
reporting back on those lessons
learned. And while the World
Cup has wrapped up, there
s
still a whole lot to be excited
about. As was noted, this is
Disability Pride Month, and i
m
really proud that Metro worked
with our partners to run an
access a match day shuttle for
fans with disabilities so they
could get between light rail
and the Seattle Stadium drop
off more easily. That was used
by several, uh, fans of the
game. So we also experienced
some lessons learned in that
service as well, and will
report out on those. But I also
want to return to the fact that
King County Metro has a long
commitment to this
conversation. We were the first
transit agency in the country
to successfully test and deploy
reliable wheelchair lifts.
Beginning as early as 1978. Our
commitment to getting everyone
to where they need to go,
regardless of the ability,
remains today, and I look
forward to continuing that
conversation about investments
our system needs in planning
and infrastructure to meet this
objective. Starting AUGUST 29th
for our full service change.
There is a lot coming online.
Metro is adding over 140,000
annual service hours for scale.
This is the largest growth in
one of our service chains in
recent years. So this is a very
large investment for our
system. The service change will
mark the full delivery of
service for the Fleet
Connections project in South
King County and Lynnwood Link
Connections project in North
King County, and it will also
deliver nearly all of the
remaining service change for
Eastlink connections. So really
leveraging the infrastructure
of Sound Transit and then
adding new connections in
neighborhoods so people can
really experience that trip
downtown on light rail and also
more neighborhood and node
connections to serve their
mobility needs. A couple of
examples of the scale of this
investment include 13 routes
that are more frequent. We know
frequency really is the name of
the game, so we
re excited to
bring that online. Ten routes
that will run more times of day
and night, three routes with
new weekend service. As we know
from our ridership trends, this
is an incredibly important part
of people
s choice to use
transit more than ever before.
Weekends are becoming an
element of need for us, and so
we
re able to address that to
some extent here. With this
service change, we will also be
bringing on line two new Metro
Flex pilot programs in Auburn
and Federal Way. And we know
that they have been long
awaited. So thanks for your
patience and many others as we
planned. Those now pivoting a
little to our ridership data,
excluding our groundbreaking
numbers for the World Cup in
JUNE, we had 289,000 average
weekday boardings for just
metro buses. In comparison, and
to hold ourselves accountable
to the year over year ridership
growth. This means that we are
2.9% higher than JUNE of 2025,
so that is good news for us.
Thank you for noting the items
on the agenda today. There
could be nothing more important
for us to talk about than how
we are focusing on the safety
of our system. So that is a
very timely and will always be
an important topic for us. And
also the importance of the
Regional Transit Committee
s
conversation on our policy
documents that was introduced
last month. I really
appreciated the feedback that
we heard and really engaged
conversation. Metro
s exploring
opportunities to carry out
earlier and informal engagement
with rtc members in late 2026.
Based on the feedback that we
received at that last meeting,
this engagement will be before
our formal launch of our
engagement with rtc in 2027,
and it will include smaller
meetings, workshops or
invitations to enjoy. To join
us at community engagement
meetings. So stay tuned for
various ways to start the
conversation with us sooner
rather than later. We heard
that as a priority from this
body, so thank you so much for
the opportunity to share both
our successes, but also some of
the challenges that are still
facing us as an organization
and how we
re working to tackle
them together. We appreciate
it.
Thank you so much. Um, just to
flag, if you didn
t catch, um,
what the general manager shared
was that folks who serve on
this board, um, now and this
committee now will have an
opportunity to provide some
feedback and guidance before we
formally launch the work on the
policy documents next year,
because all of you have spent
so much time on these and
received updates. And I think
it
s really, um, it would be
unfortunate to lose that. So
I
m really appreciative that
you are making that
accommodation and really
weaving in our regional
partners. Now, um, before in
case there
s turnover, um, any
questions for our general
manager? And I have, yeah. Yes.
Council member.
Can you hear me? All right.
Yes.
I just had a follow up question
to the presentation. If it
s
all right.
Of course.
Uh, could the director not just
include the number, the raw
number of passengers, but also
the increase in revenue? As
part of that, I
d like to know,
uh, in terms of not just the
physical impact of passengers,
but the financial impact as
well. So I would like to see a
follow up based upon what the
numbers she gave us today.
Happy to thank you for that
suggestion. Council member.
Thank you. Councilmember von
Reichbauer. All right. I have
also been advised that um,
General manager will be
sticking around for the whole
meeting. So if there are any
follow up questions later, um,
I
m sure she
ll come back to
the table. So thank you so much.
All right. Moving to our next
item, we have a briefing on
Metro
s next stop. Um, I think
we talked about this on several
occasions, but our, uh, the
adopted metro connects long
range plan was not fully
funded. And so in order to
achieve those long term growth
plans, Metro requires
additional funding. So Metro
s
next stop is that planning
process. And I will leave it to
Metro
s chief of staff, Deanna
Martin, to finish. Um, probably
a better explanation of what
that is.
Thank you. Chair. Uh, again, my
name is Deanna Martin. I
m
chief of staff at King County
Metro and really glad to be
back this month to share our
enthusiasm for and connect you
with Metro
s next stop. Uh,
next. So we
re getting slides
up. Good. Okay. Next slide
please. So I want to talk to
you about why we did this. You
talked a little bit about that.
Thank you. Um, we have spent a
number of years talking about
recovery from the pandemic and
questions about. So what
s next,
Metro. And if you say you need
more money, you have this
financial cliff coming. What
can you do and what could you
do with additional funding. And
we have worked over the last
year and a half to really
answer that question. With
Metro
s next stop, it shows
what transit improvements we
can implement by 2038. With
that additional funding, it
s
intended to help bridge the gap
between our day to day
operations and the 1 to 2 year
budget, and our long term
vision of Metro Connects. We
wanted to have a product that
we could use both internally
and externally, to point us in
the same direction in the near
term, with the resources we
think we could get, what we
could deliver and how we could
deliver on customer priorities.
And we wanted it to be
optimistic, but also realistic.
Not like Metro Connects, which
we continually talk about this
under unfunded vision that we
have, that we
re never quite
getting to, um, we wanted this
to be something we could
realistically deliver with what
we think we could get in the
next ten years. And we want to
thank many of your city staff
who helped work on this and
develop this with us. Your
perspectives of growth and
transit priorities are
reflected in what you
re going
to see here today. And while
the final document, which you
got a copy of and I
m kind of
showing you here in the in the
packet of materials for the
meeting, it
s supported by a
lot. It
s a primarily
communications piece, but it is
supported by a lot of rigorous
technical work, ensuring we
have a strong and accurate
technical foundation to answer
questions about our funding
future and help start a
conversation about the funding
we need. It
s not a new policy
document. It is built on the
foundation of our adopted
policy documents, which you
heard about last month. The
work we did will help provide
inputs for the policy updates.
It affirms our current approach
and plans, and for the first
time tells the story of what we
do and what we are doing in the
mid-term in a way that we hope
is accessible to multiple
audiences, not just transit
planners. Next slide please. So
the region is changing, and
metro and public
transportation, we think is
really key to connecting
communities. Metro
s next stop
is a tool to help us
communicate our value, confirm
community priorities, identify
investments towards our long
term vision. Metro connects,
update our financial delivery
and growth assumptions. Build
support and trust of partners,
and improve coordination,
clarity and confidence across
Metro and with our partners.
Next slide please. By 2038,
King County is expected to have
almost 244,000 more residents
than today, and that
s
equivalent to 56 people
arriving every day. It
represents an increase in the
county
s population of about
11% over the next 12 years. The
region is also expected to add
231,000 new jobs, which is a
16% increase. That growth will
occur all across King County,
and while nearly one third of
new residents and jobs are
anticipated in Seattle, most
growth the size of growth will
be felt and happen in other
cities and towns across the
region. At the same time,
rising housing costs have
pushed many lower income
households and communities of
color farther from job centers
and frequent transit service,
and these changes reinforce the
need for a transit system that
helps people stay connected to
opportunity, no matter where
they live. In King County. Next
slide might be a familiar
chart. We
ve gone over it
before. Uh, funding is needed
to meet the growth of the
region, and Metro
s next stop
will require more than our
existing resources can provide.
So in this familiar chart, the
blue line equals the total
ending fund balance. According
to our financial plan. And the
red line is our net fund
balance that we have left over.
After accounting for our
reserve requirements. And the
graph illustrates Metro
s
projected ending fund balance
over time, based on our adopted
budget. Of the 2627 budget
cycle, and it was updated for
the MARCH 2026 for forecast.
Metro maintains cash reserves
and carefully planned spending
to balance needs with
resources. However, inflation
means that over the long term,
Metro
s revenues will not keep
pace with rising costs for
staff, operations and
construction projects. Both
lines decrease over time as
Metro
s projected spending
exceeds Metro
s projected
revenue, and our financial plan
projects us not meeting our
reserve requirements by 2031,
and a negative fund balance by
2033 without additional
changes. The investments
contemplated in Metro
s next
stop represent the needs of a
growing region. Metro
s next
stop is designed to continue
the agency
s commitment to
financial responsibility by
carefully prioritizing these
investments, while seeking
resources that have the least
impact on our highest burden
communities in order to deliver
on our promises. Next slide
please. So Metro
s next stop
outlines the investments needed
to create a safer, more
welcoming transit experience,
improve speed and reliability
of trips, expand service and
access to transit. Modernize
customer information tools, and
continue efforts to reduce our
ghg emissions. Next slide
please. And before I describe
the investments we plan to
deliver in greater detail, I
want to share a quote from our
equity cabinet co-chairs,
Sandra Evans and Hina Vara. The
Equity Cabinet has been devoted
to this project for about a
year. Every step of the way.
And they say transit plays a
critical role in helping people
access essential places and
stay connected to their
communities. Metro
s next stop
represents an important step in
planning for that future,
shaped not only by quantitative
data, but also by the voices
and experiences of people in
King County who rely on transit
every day. The Equity Cabinet
did a great job of rolling up
their sleeves to understand how
much her works and what our
constraints and goals are, and
helping make hard choices when
they had to. It was their
leadership that formed the
basis of what we
re
prioritizing in Metro
s next
stop. Next slide please. So
they the equity cabinet were
one of three main engagement
groups. In addition, we had a
partner review board and staff
from local jurisdictions that
were part of more than a dozen
meetings and helped us gather
feedback. As you know, Metro
works closely with community
members, community based
organizations, city
representatives and local
leaders to understand the
issues that matter most across
the region. We have for years,
and so that past engagement in
the research we do also fed
into the investments that
you
re seeing outlined in
Metro
s next stop. Next slide.
Top priorities across all three
engagement groups, where the
participants consistently
identified more service,
improved safety and faster,
more reliable travel times as
top priorities for improving
the rider experience. When
asked about whether to
prioritize strengthening the
service we have versus
providing new service and new
places, they supported a more
balanced approach to expanding
service, calling for greater
frequency on key routes and
adding new routes where they
are most needed throughout the
county. We heard that same
message loud and clear people
care deeply about high quality
bus service they can trust to
bring them to their
destinations safely, quickly
and reliably. And that feedback
directly shaped the investments
and priorities included in
Metro
s next stop. Beyond
service, safety and speed and
reliability. We also heard
participants highlight
improving existing flexible
services, such as reducing wait
times and ensuring service
matches advertised expectations
before expanding to new service
areas, better lighting and
safer pathways as important
amenities and more community
transit oriented development at
bus stops. Improved waste
collection, better landscaping
near bus stops and transit
information in more languages
to be easier to understand and
use, including clearer signs,
maps, and simpler tools for
planning, booking and paying
for trips. And we mentioned
some of these details because
those are things we do together
with you and your cities to
make transit more accessible
and work for folks. Next slide
please. So now I
m going to run
through a high level of what
s
in Metro
s next stop. If we had
additional funding and what are
the key things we could
deliver. You
ll see on this
slide the nine new bus routes
for new rapid ride lines, five
more routes running more
frequently, a 12% overall
service increase by 2038. More
midday and weekend service. And
really, what that means is by
implementing these
improvements, 71% of county
residents by 2038, including
80% of residents in priority
equity areas, would live within
a quarter mile of transit
services. In addition, 51% of
King County residents will live
within a quarter mile of
transit, arriving every 15
minutes or better. And also by
2038, nearly 90% of jobs in
King County will be located
within a quarter mile of
transit. Many of these new
routes, while new to riders,
are projects you MAY already be
aware of, new service that will
come online in the next two
years, but our customers will
experience it as new. And we
also need to emphasize we need
those new funds to sustain
those commitments over time.
The reminder. Um, so just a
reminder that when we say nine
new bus routes or five more
routes running every 15 minutes
or more, um, that is determined
using our service guidelines,
sort of their examples,
representative routes and how
we you
ve got an update on how
we do that in your meeting last
month. Um, and sort of we have
an approach to how we do that.
The methodology, as well as
using community engagement
feedback to determine which
specific routes those would be
that are getting their. And
that analysis prioritizes
investments based on three
factors. Um, in the service
guidelines, in the following
order. So first is social
equity priority populations or
the proportion of them near a
particular route land use,
which would mean access to
jobs, education, housing and
park and rides and geographic
value, which we define as
connections between activity
centers. So you see our
analysis every year included in
a summary appendix table in the
annual system evaluation
report. So that would give you
some more specific examples of
where we
d prioritize these
additions. Next slide please.
Also included in Metro
s next
stop is faster and more
reliable transit by improving
busy corridors through projects
that give buses more dedicated
space on roadways and help
transit move more efficiently.
And these investments mean less
time waiting at stoplights for
buses, more consistent arrival
times, and overall shorter
travel times for riders. So
it
s no secret to many of our
city partners that with
dedicated bus lanes and transit
signal priority on our rapid
ride and other high ridership
routes, they move faster and
more reliably through traffic.
Although congestion is expected
to increase in the coming
years. Transit travel time is
expected to improve with these
investments in bus and also
light rail infrastructure, with
the investments in Metro
s next
stop, we can estimate that our
travel times are expected to
improve 4 to 8%, saving riders
an estimated 3 to 5 minutes per
trip. And we heard very clearly
from city staff that we need to
be aligned on what, where and
when we work together on a
range of speed and reliability
interventions. Metro can make
everything from the big rapid
ride projects to corridor
improvements to spot
treatments, the small and the
mighty, all, all and all in
between. So new rapid ride
routes that we will deliver in
the next 13 years, between now
and 2038 will connect Auburn,
Kent and Renton on the eye
line, the University District
in Belltown on the Jay Line in
Seattle in South Seattle, and
Rainier Avenue on the r Line,
and Bellevue and Kirkland on
the k line. Next slide please.
To improve response times and
incidents, uh incident
Follow-Up procedures. Metro
s
expanding the presence of law
enforcement and security
officers across the system, and
we
ll talk more about that
soon. So Metro
s next stop, in
partnership with all those
folks that help us do those
things, will sustain those
services and increase them
slightly. In partnership with
the King County Department of
Community and Human Services.
Our behavioral behavioral
health specialists will
continue to provide
de-escalation support, crisis
intervention, peer support, and
connections to social services
for riders experiencing mental
health or substance use
challenges. Our ambassadors
also often in person
assistance. Um, and we are
developing some easier ways for
riders to report safety
concerns and other issues in
Metro
s next step. So this
maintains those higher levels
of safety and security
investments we operate now. And
we will sustain some higher
levels of behavioral health
specialists in Metro
s next
stop. Also, Metro
s next stop
will continue our enhanced
cleaning investments that we
re
doing now, including higher bus
cleaning levels as well as stop
and station cleaning. So next
slide please. Metro
s
investments go beyond service
safety, speed and reliability.
The agency is also improving
flexible services, rider
amenities, cleanliness, rider
information and integrating new
low emissions vehicles to
expand our environmentally
sustainable fleet. So some
examples of that investment in
Metro
s next stop include
integrating our flexible
services. We
re planning for a
new integrated app that will
make it easier to plan, book
across flexible services and
alongside fixed route services.
Um, upgraded bus stops and
transit hubs serving new rapid
ride lines, link light rail and
Stride Bus rapid transit
stations. Continued investment.
As I mentioned in maintenance
and cleanliness. So that
creates a more welcoming
transit space and also
mentioned making transit
information easier to find
using new digital tools that
will simplify trip planning and
fare payment, and included
investment in new lower
emission vehicles that we have
in electric trolley buses,
battery electric buses and
hybrid vehicles powered by
renewable fuels that help
reduce emissions and improve
air quality. Next slide please.
So Metro
s next stop does
require additional funding.
This chart shows the funding
gap and annual terms to deliver
and sustain the investments
that we are promising. In
Metro
s next stop, the annual
funding gap shown here varies
between 200 million and 600
million. Between 2031 and 2038.
The spike in spending in 2033
and 34 is due to a very large
fleet replacement, including
replacing the entire trolley
fleet. And this funding gap is
based on all the investments
outlined in Metro
s next stop.
So we are looking at funding
tools like the King County
Transportation District, making
current resources more
flexible, partnership funds or
in-kind investments. Additional
state and federal support, as
well as Metro
s fares, fees and
fines, and how we can leverage
more resource there. And in
addition to new revenue, Metro
continues to find ways to
control our cost growth
whenever possible so that we
can invest more in community.
And that means exploring
innovative ways to change how
services are delivered and
implementing cost saving
measures to keep improving how
much reserves its customers and
remain worthy of the public
s
trust. Growing ridership is
also critical to support more
productive service and boost
our fare revenue, and we
believe these investments in
service will help to do that.
Next slide, please. Metro works
very closely, as you know, with
all 39 cities and towns to
provide transit service
tailored to each city
s unique
needs. And additionally,
Metro
s support service in both
rural and urban areas. Uh, we
learned from your cities
throughout this engagement that
and what we will be doing is
working to communicate earlier
and more often with you about
what we
re planning and what
you all are working on to make
the case for transit with both
qualitative and quantitative
data, and set clear
expectations about how we can
work well together. We invite
your partnership, including but
not limited to, speed and
reliability improvements,
flexible services, rider
amenities, and cleanliness, and
many of your cities already
partner with us. So Bellevue,
Redmond, Kirkland partnering on
transit demand management. Um,
working with Snoqualmie and
North Bend to promote Trailhead
Direct and the community van. A
lot of partnership with cities
during South Link connections
and that big service change we
have this fall. Federal Way
partnering with us to include
bus stops in their critical
capital work for 2026 that will
help riders take advantage of
new South Link connections.
Auburn engaging with us on
Metro Flex pilot zones that
will work well for their
residents, as well as with the
Regional Transit Safety Task
Force, which we
ll talk more
about. So these partnerships
that we make with all of you,
they help make our service
dollars go much further, um, by
maintaining the roads and
providing the infrastructure
needed for a service dollar to
get people in the speed by
which they want to get to a
place and maintain our
headways. So it comes when
people expect it to come. And
that is really needed. So we
look forward to continuing to
work with you on that. Okay,
last almost to the end, this is
it. So we end with a quote from
our general manager, Michelle
Allison, here in the audience.
Delivering these outcomes will
require partnership,
innovation, investment and long
term collaboration. It will
require metro local
governments, community
organizations, employers and
writers all working together
towards shared goals. So the
ask isn
t a vote here because
this isn
t a policy document.
But we do want your support and
partnership to focus on
delivering these things and
bringing the benefits to your
communities, in your budgets.
In the King County Council
budget to tell the story with
us and affirm that Metro has a
plan. When people ask what
we
re doing, we now have a
community informed answer. We
feel confident in delivering
and sustaining with additional
resources. So Metro
s next stop
is a realistic but optimistic
delivery roadmap that gets us
closer to Metro Connects. And
the analysis. As I mentioned
before, and engagement will be
the foundation and starting
point for updates to Metro
Connects as well. And we
ll
continue to engage with you all
on both. Metro connects the
Strategic Plan and our service
guidelines in 2027.
Great. Thank you so much. Um,
before we get, um, or open it
up for questions, I wonder if
you could share a little bit
about the time frame that Metro
is thinking about as it relates
to that funding fiscal cliff
that
s coming up in 2031? Um,
this will frame that I assume a
request to the executive or
the, um, county as a whole. The
council on how to or what
investments are needed. Could
you share a little bit more
about, um, if you can kind of
the timing of that and how that
might frame up some of the
service guideline work that
we
re also going to be taking
up in the next year or two?
Yeah. To answer the first part
of that, which is sort of when
do we need to know how we
re
going to address things before
we reach that financial cliff?
I think we are anticipating and
hope to work with everyone to
figure out a plan by 2028. Um,
that is sort of a combination
of all those various funding
mechanisms that I laid out. Um,
if we have that plan by 2028, I
think that can partner well
with policy updates and then
help us avoid having a planning
conversation in the 2829
biennium about reducing service
or delaying growth or making
other difficult choices about
that financial cliff. So that
is our goal would be to have a
plan by 2028.
Great. Thank you. Colleagues,
do you have any questions
please. If you are online,
please go ahead and raise your
hand. If you
re in person, you
can just tap me on the shoulder.
All right. Oh, Councilmember
Bhargava.
Yeah. Thank you. Chair Fain I
m
going to stay off video just to
make sure my audio comes
through. Clearly. Last time
there were some challenges, but
I just want to start by saying
thanks to the presentation. And
Bellevue really appreciates
Metro
s inclusive approach to
developing Metro
s next stop.
Bellevue staff has participated
in the jurisdictional partner
meetings, and those meetings
have provided really meaningful
opportunities for feedback and
regional coordination. Metro is
also really where
jurisdictional jurisdictions,
well informed by sharing input
from the equity cabinet, as
well as the Partner Review
Board throughout the process.
The question I have is, do we
have clarity on what the cost
is funding only the existing
services? Is, and how much of
that cost is fully funded
already? And the second
question, somewhat unrelated,
is, uh, what is the framework
that has been used to determine
the need for growth? And how do
we know which of those
components that have been, um,
outlined are really critical?
I got two questions. So the
first one, um, what I think is
something like, what would it
cost us to maintain our
existing service versus growth?
And so about 90% of the
estimated costs for Metro
s
next stop would maintain
today
s service levels. And
that includes capital
investments like fleet
replacement, state of good
repair, but and excludes things
like anticipated service
restoration and growth, new
rapid ride speed and
reliability investments,
facility and passenger
infrastructure improvements,
and zero emissions. That was, I
think, one of the questions,
um, and then the framework that
we use to determine the need
for growth, I think was the
second one. Um, and you MAY
remember some of that from last
month
s presentation on our
adopted policies and service
guidelines. Those really help
us determine where we add
service. So within the service
guidelines, there
s three
priorities for investment. The
first is reducing crowding. The
second is improving
reliability. And the third is
service growth. And within that
third priority of service
growth there
s a prioritization
approach embedded. Step one is
determining um sorry. Step one
for determining that growth is
to document the gap between
where we are today and the
target set in Metro connects.
And if we see a gap, we track
it. Once we see which routes
need service growth to align
with our vision, then step two
is to prioritize them based on
three factors. So first we sort
them into five categories based
on their equity score. Next, we
rank them within these
categories based on their land
use score. And then we also use
a tiebreaker of that geographic
value. So um, for routes out of
the same scores across those
first two measures, which will
evaluate their connections
between major activity centers.
So this provides us with the
priorities for service growth
that you find in our annual
service system evaluation. And
comes after the priorities of
reducing crowding and improving
reliability, because
essentially, we want current
services to have the resources
to function well before adding
new services.
All right. Thank you very much.
Um, I
m sorry.
Thank you.
Councilmember. Okay. I think we
have, uh, Mayor Mayhew.
Yes.
Thank you. Um, just my question
is around. I know a topic that,
um, uh, is sort of perennial
topic that we, we grapple with,
but I
ll call it the topic of
geographic equity. Um, out in
Snoqualmie, which is the upper
Snoqualmie Valley. But really
across the entire Snoqualmie
Valley, when we measure, um,
the level of service and
against sort of metrics and
compare that, uh, against the
rest of the metro service area,
the service level is is really
substantially below, uh, what
say an average would be. And
even some of the other rural
community areas, um, that
aren
t Snoqualmie Valley. So my
question is, as as we kind of
look at the policy documents
that will be behind this next
round and thinking about this
presentation, um, can you kind
of comment on or include in
that process, uh, perhaps a
greater discussion of
geographic equity and how
that
s being factored in? You
know, I know that geographic
equity is not part of how Metro
defines the concept of equity
right now. Um, one thing is
that if we think about route
215 and the proposal for that,
we actually saw that proposal
cut back even further in order
to shift service to some of the
other equity target categories
that were going after. But, um,
perhaps just, um, more focus on
geographic equity. My
questions, could there be more
focus on geographic equity,
particularly for rural
communities? Uh, up and down
the Snoqualmie Valley?
I think that
s great feedback.
You
re right. As we enter the
policy update conversation. And
so I think we look forward to
having more conversations with
you all as current members of
rtc through the end of this
year. Before we start the
formal engagement, to get more
of your input about what that
means to you and what that
could look like, I mean, one of
the changes we made in the last
service guideline update was
not comparing rural routes with
urban ones, right? We broke out
those routes because that
s not
a fair comparison. Right? So I
think we are open to looking at
how we do that analysis to best
meet the needs of the King
County diversity of the King
County region. And so that
s
great feedback that we can dive
more deeply with you as we get
into the policy updates.
Thank you very much.
Great point. All right. We
ll
take this last question and
note that Council Member Harris
is here. For the record. Um, go
ahead, Councilmember.
Um.
Thank you. I just do you have
any kind of, like, intention on
like a post game of, uh, World
Cup activities? Um.
Just. Yeah. Does it make sense
what I
m saying?
Yes.
Yeah, absolutely. And I know,
um, we are planning to do that
at, uh, King County Council and
the Transportation Committee.
Uh, in OCTOBER. And that
s the
meeting, um, that we are
looking to set a special
meeting to potentially do
another joint meeting so that,
um, the regional transit
committee can join in on that.
Um, did you have anything else
to add, Deanna?
I don
t think so. Well, just.
I attended three of the games,
and I just. That
s not a, like,
a flex or anything. It
s just
that, um, this was sort of a
stress test, and it felt to me
anecdotally, like a success
story, um, largely. And I at
least in my neck of the woods,
I think there is a certain
amount of salesmanship that is
necessary going forward, um, to
just get people to understand
the benefits.. And that
s
really all I got.
Thanks.
Yeah, i
m really glad you had
that experience. I think we do
feel like it has been a success
and demonstrates our ability to
deliver the growth it is we
re
promising. In Metro
s next stop
and build that, um, positive
recognition and continue the
public trust to continue to do
these things for the region.
Yes. Thank you. Councilmember.
That is, uh, something that I
m
hoping we can address in our
follow up meeting, because not
only was it a success for the
region, um, as it relates to
transit, it was, um, just an
incredible show of safety
across, um, in and around all
of the games and the match
viewing parties. And it was a
great showcase of what a lot of
investment can do. Um, and so
how can we translate that into
something that
s more
maintainable for us here? Um,
going forward, but not let it
go? So, uh, we will be doing a
follow up and I
ll loop you all
in, um, on that recap. All
right. With the time moving
along here, I want to make sure
we get to our next item, which
is the Transit Safety and
Security briefing. And I think
we can all agree that ensuring
that riders and operators feel
safe is fundamental to our to a
successful transit system. And
I think that is what we all saw
and felt during the World Cup.
Um, and Metro has made a
significant number of
investments in safety and
security over the past several
years and is continuing to work
with regional partners through
the Regional Transit Safety
Task Force and supported this
incredible um coordination
effort during World Cup. So
today
s briefing is a great
opportunity to understand what
those investments have
accomplished and how Metro is
measuring success, and where we
have additional work to do. So,
uh, Deanna Martin will remain,
um, at the table here, and we
are joined by Rebecca Frank
Hauser to update us on Metro
s
safety and security efforts. So
welcome and thank you.
Thanks. Yeah. Staying here and
joined by Rebecca. Thanks for
joining. We
re grateful for the
opportunity to share what we
re
doing to make our system safer
and to communicate to our
riders what Metro has been
doing, what our plans are to
continue to address the
conditions on our system. And I
know we have some slides that
are going to be shared, and I
m
going to turn it over to
Rebecca.
Okay.
Uh.
Thank you. Deanna, I
m Rebecca
Fankhauser, I
m Metro
s chief
safety officer and director of
safety, security and quality
assurance. Uh, I think we
ll
move straight into the first
slide. Thank you. Uh, so at
Metro, we
re focused on doing
what is within our control to
provide safe, clean and
reliable service and noting
that safety is first in that
list for a reason. Um, so we do
this by being values driven and
data informed. Uh, so let
s
start with some of our data.
Uh, the trips that we provide,
uh, to 1 million people per
week on Metro are
overwhelmingly safe when
incidents on our system do
occur, uh, employees call into
the transit control center, um,
there, they talk to a
coordinator, which creates a
coordinator service record. So
these MAY not reflect every
single incident that happens on
our system, but they do reflect
most incidents and illuminate
the trends that inform how we
take action. An incident is
defined as anything that a bus
operator needs assistance with,
ranging from various unlawful
transit conduct where people
might be using the bus for the
purpose of sleeping up to
criminal activities such as
assaults, which include
spitting or unreasonable
disturbances. So on this graph,
you can see the coordinator
service record per million
boardings. It
s important to
note that benchmarking these
incidents against 1 million
riders really shows the
frequency of our incidents
relative to the millions of
customer interactions that
occur each year. That
perspective supports more
informed decision making by
helping distinguish between
isolated events and systemic
trends on our system. So Metro
uses this data to identify
incident trends along routes,
locations, time of day, and
deploys security and law
enforcement resources
accordingly. We know this
approach works because we see
that our incident rates have
been declining during the peak
of the pandemic. You can see
when the ratio of incidents to
boardings was uniquely
pronounced due to low
ridership. We experienced a
high of 243 per 1 million
boardings in JUNE of this year.
I am pleased to report that we
had a post-pandemic low of 58
incidents per million
boardings, so we know our
approach is working. This
reduced rate has been stable
and continues to trend
downward, so we
re continually
reviewing our trends. We
re
adjusting our deployment to
ensure the right resources are
put where the right needs are,
and we continue to work with
Metro and our partners to
decrease our incidents. I
ll
move to the next slide, please.
So how we approach safety on
our system has changed
significantly over time, and
we
re working hard to ensure
that we show up in the right
way and with the right
resources for the situation.
Next slide. Historically,
Metro
s used a traditional
public safety model, which
relied heavily on Metro transit
police and transit security,
which is illustrated on the
left of this chart. We have
moved into more of a care and
presence model. As you
ll see,
um. In 2020, Metro launched the
safety, security and Fare
enforcement reform initiative
that really centered the voices
of Bipoc and those that
intersect with other
marginalized and historically
underserved communities to help
reimagine and reform the
security functions on our
system. One of our main goals
is to achieve safety while
supporting community members
who have the greatest needs and
without perpetuating systemic
racism. Recognizing that not
every situation needs a law
enforcement response, the Care
and Presence model focuses on
visibility, customer
engagement, and support for
transit workers. So we
ll talk
about what each of those
resources, um, the role that
each of them plays. Go the next
slide, please. All right. First
looking at our transit control
center or the tcc, this is
really the nerve center of
metro bus operations. It
s not
new, but I think for the
purpose of this presentation, I
did want to highlight that
we
ve changed how we
ve
equipped those resources to be
even more responsive to our
writers and our employees. The
tcc is the main hub and hub for
anything that employee
experiences or needs out in the
field. So the coordinators in
the tcc support service
delivery by monitoring bus
operations, they respond to
calls for assistance. They
organize and direct responses,
and they communicate with
internal and external parties.
The operators are trained to
call the tcc whenever an
incident occurs, and we have a
dedicated continuous
improvement project where we
ve
surveyed operators to ensure
that the tcc is meeting their
needs. Um, whenever they have
deployed an emergency alarm,
which this is the highest level
of support that can be
requested from the control
center. Um, and so we get their
feedback on the experience and
what could be improved as a
result of the findings. We
re
working to implement
recommendations to continue to
improve how we respond when our
employees need us most. We
re
also making sure that the
transit control center and our
service quality supervisors,
who will see in the next slide,
um, have trauma informed
training so that we can lead
with care in how we respond to
affected employees.
Next slide please.
All right. This is one of our
service quality supervisors.
This group works really closely
with the transit control Center
to support operators out in the
field. They proactively monitor
our transit operations. They
respond to operator calls for
assistance and to conditions
that affect or disrupt the
efficient delivery of our
service.
Next slide.
Moving into our Metro Transit
Police, Metro contracts with
the King County Sheriff
s
Department for Metro Transit
police officers because they
re
part of the sheriff
s office,
they operate in all parts of
our region depending on need.
They not only respond to and
investigate crimes on transit
and transit properties, but
they also work upstream to
prevent crimes from happening
on law enforcement side of
things, the bicycle emphasis
and enforcement squad of the
Metro Transit Police conduct
proactive patrols where they
address unlawful conduct,
unlawful transit conduct, and
respond to 911 calls. Other
types of policing services that
Metro Transit Police provide
includes investigating criminal
activity and also working with
partners on complex operations
for narcotics and weapons
related criminal offenses.
Metro Transit Police also has
Transit Resource Officers.
These individuals provide more
of a direct link between the
community service providers and
address more complex issues
that don
t need typical law
enforcement response.
Next slide please.
All right. Our transit security
officers are contracted
personnel that provide security
presence, deter incidents and
monitor activities. They
address behavioral issues and
assist customers and operators
with questions and life safety
concerns.
They also provide.
Customer service. Um, to and
make contact with anyone using
the bus zone for non transit
purposes and help move them on.
In recent years, we
ve not only
doubled the number of
contracted transit safety
security officers, but further
increased the number to better
meet the needs of our system.
Last year, we relaunched fare
enforcement, which you
ll
recall on our system, which is
a subset of the contracted
transit security officers. And
these are known as fare
enforcement officers. Uh, fare
enforcement officers inspect
fares from all riders and
educate on fare media and
policy, which drives
accountability on the system.
Our goal is to increase our
safety presence through
incremental and continuous
improvement.
Next slide please.
All right. These are two of our
behavioral health
Support specialists. These
teams provide basic needs for
customers in crisis, which
often includes food, hygiene
products or cold weather
supplies, as well as providing
connection and referral to
shelters, housing and case
management. So they consist of
a combination of a mental
health professional and a peer
who has lived experience with
housing instability,
homelessness or addiction. Uh.
Okay. Next slide please. And
these are our safe ambassadors.
Metro safe ambassadors create a
welcoming presence and provide
in-person customer service,
which includes wayfinding and
fare payment and general metro
information. Um, they
re also
touch points for our employees
out in the field. Uh, the
metro. Metro safe Ambassador
program embodies requests from
community for not just security
presence, but it
s an
alternative. Um, presence for
alternative presence as well.
So I will turn it over to
Deanna.
Thanks. Next slide please.
Addressing security concerns on
transit or near it is a
responsibility shared across 20
metro teams. Multiple King
County agencies, 39
jurisdictions, each with their
own departments and
partnerships, and many
communities. So the goal of our
Safety Emphasis program is to
strengthen partnerships with
jurisdictional partners,
elected leaders, community
members, community based
organizations, and businesses
to develop timely and equitable
solutions for safe, clean and
reliable transit. Next slide
please. Metro Safety Emphasis
Program was established in 2024
to bring together these
different agencies to address
what some refer to as hot
spots, or what we like to call
safety emphasis. Areas in the
region. Safety emphasis areas
are identified by a variety of
data sources holistically,
including reports from
employees, formal complaints
from customers, or community
based organizations and
institutions, and work order
requests. Additional factors
considered are the quantity,
severity, and trends of those
reports. Ridership data, equity
scores, or who
s impacted, and
additional feedback from
jurisdiction and community
partners based on research and
customer feedback. The program
focuses primarily on the three
key areas that most impact
customers sense of safety, the
physical environment of the
area, how others in the area
are behaving, and what is
communicated as it pertains to
that area. For what
s within
our control. At Metro, this
looks like facilitating
localized engagement to bring
together writers, staff, agency
and community partners, law
enforcement and security staff
and businesses to understand
what
s going on its impacts,
and to generate ideas to
address what is being
experienced. Addressing
physical conditions so that
getting to, waiting for, and
using transit feels clean, safe
and welcoming. By cleaning,
maintaining and fixing lighting
on Metro
s property that we can
address independently.
Optimizing presence of
outreach, security and law
enforcement teams to improve
social conditions by increasing
adherence to the Code of
Conduct through equitable
enforcement, as well as placing
our non enforcement teams in
areas where they are most
needed, and strengthening
communication with the public
to improve trust in metro
safety responses by sharing
with stakeholders what Metro is
doing to improve safety and
safety emphasis areas and
communicating with customers
their options for how to
request help with safety
incidents, concerns and what we
do with those requests. We have
some cards that we hand out. I
brought some if you
d like to
pick up some English or Spanish
little wallet cards that help
writers know what to do, how to
report incidents. That includes
both while they
re writing the
service, but also at a stop or
station. They might be at.
There
s a lot that Metro can
t
do alone, and we
ve
successfully worked with some
of your teams at your
jurisdictions, um, to address
these issues. We welcome that
additional partnership and more
opportunities to do that. And
some of those examples you saw
on Rebecca
s slides at the
Aurora Village Transit Center
with shoreline and how we
coordinate resource deployment
there. The Burien Transit
Center with Burien, Eastgate
Park and Ride with Bellevue,
the Kent James Park and ride
with Kent. And we are aware
that Issaquah Highlands parking
garage that
s also been
elevated to this team, and
we
re currently working to
assess what might be needed
there. So together we can more
efficiently deploy the
resources we are investing in
safety and security to address
physical conditions and the
built environment, provide
appropriate forms of presence
to promote safety and resolve
incidents on our system, and
have accessible public health
and human and social service
options available when that
s
the right thing to provide to
an area around transit. Next
slide please. And at the heart
of our commitments is
continuing to focus on how we
care for our employees and how
we care for our riders. As
Rebecca talked about our care
and presence approach. Well,
we
d already been making
progress. Shawn Jim
s murder in
early 2025 was a reckoning that
more needed to be done. And at
the direction of King County
Council, the Regional Safety
Task Force was established,
recognizing that while there
were many things Metro could do
independently, there
s also a
need for us to collectively
work on the larger safety
landscape. Next slide please.
Since then, the task force has
brought together partners from
across the region, including
atu local 587, advocacy and
community groups, Behavioral
Health and Alternative Response
teams, city and county
officials, law enforcement,
public health representatives,
and other transit agencies.
Last year, more than 110
organizations and agencies
participated, including 25
cities, to inform the creation
of 158 solutions split into
regional solutions. 60 of those
and 98 transit focused
solutions. So by that we mean
the transit focused solutions
are things Metro and Sound
Transit can really focus on and
control within our our, our
sphere. The 60 regional
solutions are things we really
need partnership across the
region to, to implement. And so
this year we
ve established
clear and transparent
structures to make sure that
those regional recommendations
don
t stay in a binder
collecting dust, but turn into
concrete actions. And for the
transit specific solutions,
we
ve already made some
incredible progress with,
including purchasing new buses
with enhanced operator
partitions and working to
retrofit our existing fleet,
which we expect and anticipate
having complete by 2027.
Launching a three part series
of de-escalation training for
our operators, with more than
80% having completed the two
modules and the third on the
way. Improving how we follow up
with employees when they have a
security incident, including
some of the changes that you
heard earlier about our transit
control center, the regional
solutions expand beyond what
transit agencies can address
and include solutions requiring
coordination between transit
agencies, law enforcement,
behavioral health and housing,
the judicial system, and more
so, for the regional solutions,
we have established an
implementation partnership,
which is chaired by King County
Executive Zahilay and our
General Manager, Michelle
Allison, and the implementation
partnership is central. That
s
the central entity responsible
for guiding, prioritization,
alignment and progress and
monitoring action taken on
those regional solutions. So
last month, that partnership
met to determine which of the
60 solutions we should
prioritize on coordinating for
more impactful results. 60s a
lot. And within the next year
and a half, we wanted to make
sure we were focusing on the
things that could have the
biggest amount of impact with
the partners that are willing
to sit at the table with us. So
we
re excited that with those
next steps and from that
prioritization process, 20
regional solutions were
prioritized, we
re actively
establishing working groups
that are going to turn those
solutions into action plans
with clear owners timelines and
operational steps, we can hold
ourselves accountable to some
examples of those. Regional
solutions include, but are not
limited to, clarifying roles
and responsibilities of
enforcement personnel across
both transit agency and
security staff, and law
enforcement personnel.
Improving safety and security
coordination at transit sites
where we have multiple services
coming into use, a similar
location, improving safety and
security coordination. Oh, I
mentioned that one and
launching a unified code of
conduct campaign across
agencies. So the expectations
to ride and the acceptability
of riding should be the same no
matter what service you
re
writing on. So we
re going to
work on communicating that more
clearly to riders across the
region and what the
consequences are. Should people
not be following the code of
conduct? We also plan to share
updates on this work with you
all throughout the process. Um,
including by presenting to you
all here and individually or in
other spaces that you
d like,
and through the Regional
Transit Safety Task Force
newsletter, which you all
should be assigned to and
receive those updates. Next
slide please. So a little bit
of a shift. Uh, this was a
question that had come up. What
are Metro
s efforts in
combating human trafficking. So
um, since 2018, uh, Metro has
been very aware and through the
leadership of past folks on
King County Council, that there
is a nexus between human
trafficking and public
transportation. We have been
one of King County, King
County
s partners for the
business, ending Slavery and
Trafficking campaign that
s
designed by and for victims of
trafficking. So every year
we
ve participated in a
campaign around that. Um, and
this year, with major sporting
events like fifa, we know
there
s typically an increase
in both human trafficking,
including fraudulent and
exploitative work. So, during
fifa this year, we
ve partnered
with the Seattle Hotel
Association and best to sponsor
interior and exterior ads on
our coaches to create awareness
of human trafficking and
connects people with a hotline
where they can learn more or
get help if they are a victim.
Next slide please. As much as
safety is Metro
s priority, we
know you all get a lot of
feedback on safety and transit
safety in particular. So we
want to share a couple of
resources that can be helpful
for you as you respond to those
concerns. Next slide please. We
need people to report. And I
showed up those cards earlier.
Uh, that reporting is stuff
that we look at. We can
investigate, we can make
changes and we can address a
request, additional service
resources with that
information. If we don
t know
about it, we can
t do anything
about it. For writers in urgent
or emergency situations, they
should contact their driver. If
you are seeing something that
s
uncomfortable, say something
about it. If the situation
s
life threatening, they should
call or text 911. Calling is
preferred and faster, but know
that that
s not always feels
like a safe or comfortable
option. When you
re in the
middle of something. If the
situation doesn
t require an
immediate response, but is
still a concern, we encourage
writers to report it with as
much detail as possible to our
our phone. We also have a web
form that
s noted on this card
that I
ll share. So that is the
additional information that
helps us to know what
s
happening and where is
including the bus route, the
bus number. There
s a coach
number on every bus. It
s the
four digits at the front and on
the back of the bus or the bus
stop location, and the bus stop
number. At every bus stop,
there
s a number on the bus
stop sign. So that tells you
what bus stop you
re at the
time of day, and the report and
then the description of the
incident that occurred. And as
I said, that can be reported
calling our customer service
line or through an online form.
We also have an additional form
for stop maintenance requests
or cleaning requests so that we
can provide that information as
follow up as well. Next slide
please. Safety is everybody
s
responsibility, and we
re
hoping to make it easier for
you all to partner with us on
addressing safety issues in
your jurisdictions. And what
s
most helpful is if you can
share ways for your
constituents to report. You can
do that by sharing the
information in the previous
slide or through these safety
contact cards. We can provide
those to you to distribute to
writers, and we also appreciate
it. If there
s a central point
person at your cities that we
can coordinate different safety
requests on your end for Metro,
you can reach out to Maria
Jimenez Zepeda and Amanda
Pleasant Brown for safety
requests, or to request the
safety contacts cards. You saw
that I that
s there on the
slide and also in person here.
So that I think is the end of
our presentation and we
re
happy to take questions.
Great. Thank you so much. That
was a lot of information. I
have a couple questions, but I
want to turn it over to my
colleagues to see what
questions you all have. We
ll
take down the slides so we can
see. All right. Why don
t i
kick us off. And then if there
are additional questions,
please do feel free to raise
your hands. Um, around the
regional transit safety, uh,
task force. It
s somewhat of a
question, but I was. I
m very
honored to be serving on that,
um, task force and work
directly with the general
manager and, um, a number of
other leaders on really nailing
down that coordination. And,
collaboration between
jurisdictions and law
enforcement and transit
agencies. So if you think of a,
um, transit station into the
Tukwila International Boulevard
with Sound Transit on an
elevated platform, and then we
have um, Metro Rapid ride stop
at the bottom, a number of
stops is a transit center and
then a large parking lot, and
then the street with the city
of Tukwila. And we have Sound
transit law enforcement really
managing the top floor. We
have, um, metro security and
sheriff
s office doing this,
you know, bottom of where the
buses are. And then maybe I
think it
s Tukwila that does
the parking lot. I mean, and
yet we don
t have any sort of
formal arrangement or
discussion around what happens
in between an overlap. And so
what happens on the escalators
or the elevators. And everyone
jumps in when needed. But we
should have really clear
expectations of how to manage
that and make sure we
re all
operating on the same page. So
I think this is a really good
opportunity for us to clear
that up, make sure everyone
knows what our expectations are
and what their responsibilities
are, which will make it safer
for our riders or operators and
our community in general. So it
is a lot of work. And, um, I
you might not know this, but we
did meet last month and we
narrowed down some priorities
and just for context, I think
one of the things we put not as
a non priority, but down at the
bottom is, um, building an
operations center for all the
agencies to have a central hub,
which would be ideal. But, um,
a tremendous amount of
resources. So we wanted to
prioritize the things we can
within the resources available.
Uh, but there is a lot of work
happening. Do you happen to
know the time frame on when we
will be getting more
information about next steps
for the priorities we did push
push forward?
Yes. Over the next couple of
months, the summer months,
we
re working on, uh, picking,
uh, kind of stakeholder mapping
who should be involved in each
of the, uh, prioritized
solution working groups and
making sure we have the right
representation from different
agencies. So this fall would be
when those like late AUGUST,
SEPTEMBER would be when those
groups would convene to really
develop that more formal action
plan, more clearly defining
what success looks like to
like, what would it mean to
accomplish this thing? How can
we say we
re done? And who
s
going to take responsibility
for what to make it happen?
Thank you. And you are
reminding me that we did
include additional partners
throughout, that we wanted to
make sure that for the cities
that do have those
multi-jurisdictional transit
agencies. So Tukwila and Kent,
with Sound Transit, Metro and
our local law enforcement that
we are all at the table there.
So thank you for that reminder.
Um, any questions,
Councilmember Bhargava? And if
you could speak up, we had a
little trouble hearing you. Um,
before.
Okay. Can you hear me now? I
m
going to try and speak loud.
Much better. Thank you.
Okay. Excellent. Um, thank you
very much. First of all, for a
really excellent presentation.
Very informative. Um, the staff
report in the agenda package
states that for the 2627
biennium, Metro has added ten
Metro Transit Police deputies
for a total of 89. We
ve also
heard from Bellevue Transit
Police that King County has had
some challenges in filling
those positions. Uh, my
question is, how many of those
have been filled? And then more
systematically, what are we
doing to address some of the
hiring challenges that we
ve
had?
Uh, thank you for the question,
Councilmember. Uh, Metro
Transit police contracts
through the sheriff
s
department. So any questions
about recruiting or staffing
would probably be best answered
by them. I can
t directly
answer for them. Um, but I will
commend them. We have a very
long standing partnership with
them, and they have been
really, um, excellent in
continuing support of Metro.
I
ll just add that that is an
ongoing, um, uh, challenge that
we
ve been working on, uh,
making sure that our sheriff
s
office is fully staffed, which
it is not, and that our
contracts, um, cities and
jurisdictions receive the
supports that they are
contracting for. Um, Council
member, I will look to see if
we can
t find the latest
information for you and send
that out so that, um, or at the
very least, find the right
contact person, because it
s a
very good question. It
s an
important question. Um, and we
do track that in other
committees at the council. So
we will help facilitate that
for you.
Okay, I appreciate that.
Thank you. All right. I think
it
s Council member Goldman.
Um, yes. Thank you, MADAM
Chair. Um, thank you for the
presentation. Um, I have a
question about data. So at the
beginning, you kind of
presented the number of
incidents. And it seems over
the past couple of years,
they
ve plateaued around the 50
to 70 range. So I guess my two
part question is, number one,
what level is Metro aiming for?
And number two, how will you
evaluate some of the many
suggestions that are coming
from the task force as to
whether they have been
effective or not?
Sorry, technology is hard. Uh,
thank you for the question. Um,
we
re very happy with the
continued reduction. I think
you get to a certain point and
ridership is increasing, and so
your trends are going to show,
um, that they
re plateauing a
bit, as you noted. Uh, but I
think continued improvement is
what we
re aiming for. Um, I
would say, and we want to honor
all of our employee
experiences. And so we continue
to do outreach with our
employees, um, to encourage
them to report. And this is
really anything that they
re
experiencing on our system. So
those are not necessarily
indicative of serious events.
This could be, um, anything
from people that are using
transit to shelter to, um,
unwanted disturbances or
assaults on the system.
And I would just add, I think
everybody
s goal would be zero
security incidents anywhere for
writers and employees. Uh,
recognizing that
s very hard to
achieve. Um, that the decline
and continuing to find ways to
reduce them is really what
we
re focused on. So when we
look at the Regional Safety
Task Force recommendations, I
think that
s part of this
action planning work that we
need to do is what how will we
know that that particular thing
is making a difference or not?
And when I talked about what
success looks like, really
defining what that might be, it
might be particular measures.
It might be tasks or activities
to accomplish. But I think we
want to really think carefully
about that and have a adaptable
mindset. As Rebecca talked
about, we
re trying to have it.
Metro. If something
s not
working, we shouldn
t keep
doing it. And if it is, we
should keep doing it. But we
have to have a shared
understanding of what that
success looks like, and we hope
to develop that through the
action. Planning next steps for
the regional task force.
I would add. Thank you. Um, and
great questions as I look at
the chart. So that was page two
of this presentation. It
s page
66 of 84 in the packets. If
you
re following along. Um, it
is interesting to see kind of
the overall trends in the year
and wonder if you, if I
m on to
something here with, um, seeing
kind of the peaks in each year
starting in 22, in the later
holiday months, is that
something that, um, you
recognize and kind of account
for? I guess going forward, if
you were seeing kind of peaks
in incidents or incidents that
are reported, what those align
with.
Sure. That
s an excellent
observation. Uh, we are aware
of that. I think anytime
there
s inclement weather, we
definitely see incidents going
up. And we account for that in
our deployments. We have very
agile, uh, security and Metro
Transit Police deployments. So
during particularly the winter
months, we know that there are
going to be an influx of folks
that are using our system. So
we want to make sure that we
are providing resources to
them, um, and ensuring that
they have a safe place to
shelter. Um, but it doesn
t
necessarily need to be on Metro
Transit.
Thank you. Any other questions?
All right. Well, thank you all
so much for being here and
presenting. And it is a lot of
information. It is a lot of
work. And so appreciate your
partnership. And that and also
um, your, uh, coordination with
the cities and reaching out to
make sure that they all have
that same level of input and,
um, information. And I would
just share with my colleagues
on the committee that if you do
need more information, please
feel to reach out, um, and
share that with your
constituents and your
newsletters or your social
media. Um, it helps to spread
the word. And that
s part of
what I see our role here as,
um, all right. So just so you
all know, as part of, um, our
custom on this committee, we do
not hold a meeting in AUGUST.
Um, it
s in deference to the
recessed schedules of many of
our jurisdictions. So our next
meeting will be on SEPTEMBER
16th. And at that meeting,
we
ll hear about the ongoing
transition to a zero emission
fleet. Progress on rapid ride
implementation. And Orca use
and distribution. And with no
other business to come before