May 2002
County councilmembers in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties have begun sorting through the best ways to proceed with a new law designed to empower the three counties to jointly fund transportation improvements that might otherwise languish. Under the law (SB 6140) district voters would be asked to approve formation of a new Regional Transportation Investment District, a list of transportation projects and the funding to pay for them. The state legislature provided the three counties new taxing authority that could raise $11 billion plus for transportation projects by 2012. At the April meeting of the Regional Council's Executive Board, county councilmembers expressed doubts that district voters will be asked whether to approve a ballot measure this year, but they aren't ruling it out. Work is underway that could result in a ballot as early as November 5th, or perhaps in Spring of 2003. Councilmembers representing each county have met informally. A planning committee of all 25 councilmembers is expected to convene in June. It is generally understood that a decision on a November 2002 ballot would need to occur by August. Views vary on whether it is possible, or wise, to proceed to a ballot this year. (See chart on the planning process.) The new regional funding is intended to supplement a $7.8 billion, 10 year, state transportation funding package, Referendum 51, which will be on a statewide ballot November 5th. The new law requires councilmembers within King County, and at least one other county (Pierce and/or Snohomish) to form a planning committee to guide its implementation, subject to nuances on the taxes the new district can implement and conditions on the types of projects the district can fund. The law contains guidance pertaining to coordination with state, regional and other local governments (including a requirement that the Regional Council produce a prioritized list from Destination 2030 for the planning committee's consideration), performance measures for project selection, and mechanisms designed to assure that projects are delivered within 20% of cost estimates. The law also allows the counties to pursue a joint ballot with Sound Transit, to tap unused regional high capacity transit taxing authority, with the consent of the Sound Transit Board. Each county council will ultimately decide whether to place a proposal on the ballot in each county. A joint ballot with Sound Transit would require agreement with Sound Transit's 18 member Board in addition to the RTID planning committee.
Find Out More -- Useful information on SB 6140, and other major transportation legislation passed by the 2002 legislature, appears on the Senate Transportation Committee web site at: stc.leg.wa.gov
Executive Board Approves Plan to Encourage Public Participation
The Regional Council is committed to making every effort possible to interest and involve the region's 3.3 million people in important decisions about transportation and growth that affect all of us. In April, the Council's Executive Board approved updates to the agency's public participation plan -- a six-page description of all of the ways the Council seeks to involve the region's citizens in its work.
Don't Forget…Value Pricing Conference Set for May 29 in Bellevue
Visionary thinking and real-world examples of value pricing are on the agenda for a May 29 conference in Bellevue, Imagining Our Transportation Future. The goal of the conference is to introduce the role and benefits of value pricing and how the approach could be used in the central Puget Sound region. The term value pricing describes different market-based tools such as fees or tolls that can be used to reduce congestion and offer people alternatives to congested roads. The conference is part of a series of national workshops being conducted by the Federal Highway Administration and the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. For more information and to register, please see the conference Web site at psrc.org, or contact Ben Bakkenta, bbakkenta@psrc.org, (206) 464-537 Learning more about Destination 2030 is now as easy as popping a CD into your computer. The new CD offers the complete Destination 2030 plan and appendices (over 400 pages), a four-minute video, and a link to the Destination 2030 Web site. Destination 2030 is a long-range plan for transportation investments in the central Puget Sound region. The plan was unanimously approved by the region's cities, counties, ports and transportation agencies last May. To request the Destination 2030 CD or a paper copy of the plan, contact the Regional Council's Information Center, (206) 464-7532.
CD Now Available
Workshop to Explore UrbanSim, PSRC Model Improvements
The Puget Sound Regional Council is sponsoring a Modeling Workshop on May 15 to learn more about the UrbanSim model in the context of recommendations for improvements to the Regional Council's land use and travel demand models. In June 2001, consultants hired by the Regional Council to suggest improvements to the Council's land use and travel demand models made a series of recommendations:
- Short term (1-2 years): Make enhancements to variants of the current models, recalibrate. This work is being done now under another consultant contract.
- Mid-term (3-5 years): Replace the land use and travel behavior parts of the model with new models that operate at the level of individual households and businesses. This is the subject of the May 15 workshop.
- Long-term (5-10 years): Increase the time resolution of the previous model to "continuous" time, replace the traffic model with a simulation of individual travelers and vehicles, model weekend travel, and model commodity flows directly as part of a new multi-regional economic model.
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| Ferry Ridership Continues to Decline |
The number of ferry riders has decreased for the second year in a row. For all Puget Sound ferry routes, 2001 ridership was down by 561,000 from 2000, a decrease of 2.4 percent. This comes on the heels of a 0.7 percent decrease the previous year. A combination of rising ferry fares and a sluggish economy explain the decrease. All six of the car-ferry routes and both passenger-only ferries experienced declines in ridership, ranging from 0.3 to 13.9 percent. More than half of the decrease (289,000) occurred on the Bainbridge Island-Seattle route, the most heavily used in the system. Figure 1. Ferry Ridership, 2000-2001
| Ferry Route | 2000 | 2001 | Change | % Change |
| Bainbridge Island-Seattle | 7,202,144 | 6,913,283 | -288,861 | -4.0% |
| Bremerton-Seattle | 2,388,759 | 2,331,489 | -57,270 | -2.4% |
| Pt. Defiance-Tahlequah | 813,322 | 761,890 | -51,432 | -6.3% |
| Edmonds-Kingston | 4,756,118 | 4,706,085 | -50,033 | -1.1% |
| Vashon-Seattle (pass. only) | 309,102 | 266,265 | -42,837 | -13.9% |
| Bremerton-Seattle (pass. only) | 876,251 | 840,079 | -36,172 | -4.1% |
| Mukilteo-Clinton | 4,191,793 | 4,168,096 | -23,697 | -0.6% |
| Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth | 3,306,893 | 3,295,933 | -10,960 | -0.3% |
| Puget Sound Ferries | 23,844,382 | 23,283,120 | -561,262 | -2.4% |
Washington State Ferries increased fares by 20 percent in June 2001 (more for passenger-only service). The fare increase directly affected ridership. From January through May 2001, the number of riders was down about 27,000 from the same time period of the previous year -- a 0.3 percent decrease. However, from June to the end of the year 2001, ridership decreased by over 533,000 (or 3.6 percent) from 2000. This trend is continuing into the current year, with a system-wide decrease of 3.1 percent for the first three months of 2002. Fares are being raised again (by 12.5 percent) in May of this year, so ridership may take another slight dip in the coming year. Historically, fare increases have caused temporary drops in ferry usage but, over time, ferry users have continued to use the ferry system despite the increases in price. Since 1990, fares on most routes have increased by 36 percent for passengers and 44 percent for vehicles (non-peak regular fares, not including the upcoming increase). During that span, the number of ferry riders system-wide has increased by 22 percent. If the past is any indication, ferry ridership should eventually begin to grow again. Figure 2. Average Daily Ferry Ridership Difference, 2000-2001
For more information about ferry ridership data in this Trend, contact Kris Overby at (206) 464-6661, e-mail koverby@psrc.org.
206-464-7532 - FAX 206-587-4825 - infoctr@psrc.org Sign language and communication material in alternative formats can be arranged given sufficient notice by calling Grace Foster at 206-464-7090. TDD\TTY; 206-464-5409. Funding for this newsletter provided in part by member jurisdictions, grants from U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, Federal Highway Administration and Washington State Department of Transportation.
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