Vote NO on Sound
Transit November 2016!
You don’t have to be a tourist or
newcomer here to find our public transportation an absurdity. Seattleites find it absurd. No wonder!
Sound Transit has given us a mêlée of
problems. Many of you, undoubtedly, can
add to this list:
∙Competing bus
systems, conflicting bus systems: Metro buses vs. Sound Transit
∙Radical bus cuts in Seattle :
fewer direct routes and more transferring required.
∙A dearth of east-west
∙Privatization of a public amenity with your tax dollars
leaving Seattle ;
∙Orca cards vs. bus
transfers; Sound Transit doesn’t accept or issue transfers
∙Fare boxes off buses, fare enforcement officers on buses,
∙Streets and neighborhoods torn up for Sound Transit; homes
taken using eminent domain (This was not necessary with Metro buses.)
∙Mismanagement and waste!
Link rail is not a replacement
for neighborhood bus service, nor can it be.
Buses should serve neighborhoods where the people live, and allow
passengers to board and unboard along the way.
Sound Transit link rail is not designed to do this, yet Metro cancelled
many of Seattle
King County Metro, the county transit authority, supposedly
handles Seattle bus service but Seattle
has been invaded by other systems that undermine and clash with Metro and have
me longing for the days when Seattle
had its own bus service. All these other
buses are like weeds; and weeds are invasive and take over the garden. It’s time to do some weeding.
The Seattle Transit System was “subsumed” by Metro in 1973 (or is that consumed?) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_County_Metro#History When Seattle had its own service we needed
only a few bus numbers to cover the entire city. Metro broke up bus routes, causing riders to
have to transfer whereas before one bus might have sufficed; and now Sound
Transit makes it much worse with Metro routes being whacked to serve Sound Transit rather than Metro riders.
As an example, under Seattle ownership the #7 bus served Seattle from north to south city limits. South bound it was the #7 Rainier .
North bound it was the #7 Wedgwood, #7
Lake City or #7 Maple Leaf. Under Metro,
these became the #71, #72 and #73 respectively, and only served the north half
of Seattle . But now with Sound Transit, the #72 has been
eliminated altogether and the #71 & #73 no longer go downtown and no longer
run Sundays, holidays or at night. These
routes have been radically slashed in order to increase Sound Transit ridership. It is rumored that
our government has an agreement with Sound Transit to deliver a quota of riders. However, if X number of Metro riders are now being forced to use Sound Transit in place of, or in addition to, Metro because of Metro bus cuts, this does not count as new or increased ridership. But Watch! Sound Transit will use this false number to try to claim success.
GOAL SHOULD BE A
ONE-SEAT RIDE
Most of the time I have spent busing over the years is owing
to Metro’s game of Musical Chairs; and as just stated, Sound Transit makes it
worse. Sundays or evenings can take hours
to complete a one-way bus trip in Seattle if it entails transferring, so years
ago I made the decision to only bus Sundays or evenings if it was a one-seat
ride. Now, with recent bus cuts, I have
no seat to ride on Sundays because Metro has eliminated Sunday service altogether
in my neighborhood. And all late evening
service has been eliminated on the other days of the week. This is in Seattle folks, not in the boon docks.
With the new changes, for the first time in Seattle ’s bus history, many Seattleites can
no longer even bus downtown without having to transfer -- from Metro buses to
Sound Transit. Formerly, I was able to bus
to Lake City
Transferring is not only very time consuming but also bad
for the health. Riders have little
control over connections and thus become stressed and worried whether they will
make or miss their connection. If they miss
it this generates stress and mental anguish.
And how often do you see bus riders racing across a busy arterial
against the light in an effort to make the connection? And this is not to mention the inconvenience
to passengers having to transfer: especially the elderly, or mothers with small
children or disabled riders of any age.
PRIVATIZATION OF BUS SERVICE
Privatization is the reason we’ve lost our bus service. Metro is no longer under local control but
under the control now of Sound Transit in what is known as private/public
partnership where the partnership is funded with tax dollars, and private
enterprise pockets the money. I’ve even
been informed by a bus driver that Metro is not allowed to operate buses where
it might undermine Sound Transit ridership.
Never mind that Metro buses were here first. Sound Transit will be on the November ballot
this year asking for another fifty billion dollars. Vote NO!
Metro and Sound Transit have contracted with Securitas Electronic Security, a.k.a. Securitas
Security Services, a giant corporation formerly known as Diebold:
the company notorious for making the black box voting machines accused of doing
so much mischief in our nation’s elections.
http://www.securitasinc.com/ Securitas
Electronic Security supplies the Fare Enforcement Officers (FEOs) to
prevent transit trespassers.
.
Even if some riders are boarding without paying, it is unlikely
that the quantity of these transit trespassers justifies the cost of contracting
with private enterprise and paying for their FEOs and related electronic
gadgetry. And how do people slip onto
buses sans fare? This is done at stops
where passengers can use external fare boxes instead of paying onboard. The idea is that this will save time. Then once on board, these FEOs police the
aisles to make sure everyone has paid. Can
this be done even when buses are tightly packed with passengers having to ride standing
in the aisles?
Some passengers feel harassed by these FEOs and there is
already a lawsuit against one of them for shoving a passenger. Riders should pay when they board and then we
can eliminate these fare problems. Metro
got along all these years without FEOs and Securitas Security Services. And fire the consultants responsible for this
mess. How many of them even live in Seattle and depend on our
bus service as their only source of transportation? Omit the profiteering middle man!
Also, a Sound Transit rider informed me that if you have to
use your Orca card in order to transfer you may get charged twice for your
trip, that it happened to her. And a friend of mine purchased a monthly pass
through his Orca card and part way through the month found that it was no
longer good though he doesn’t know why. Orca
cards are not without these glitches. Insist
on Sound Transit issuing paper transfers.
But there is still another way in which fares have doubled: People
should be able to run a quick errand of a couple miles and back without having
to pay two fares, e.g. pick up a few groceries or drop off a library book or
run to the bank. This is no longer
possible because of Sound Transit forcing Metro to eliminate the one-seat ride.
It is unfortunate that the voters passed Sound Transit (1996). I voted against it but most voters are not
well informed and the government takes advantage of this fact. And the government did not inform voters that
Sound Transit would result in reduced or eliminated bus service. Sound Transit will be on the ballot in
November with their hands out for more of your tax dollars. Please vote NO!
In April 2014 King County Voters rejected Proposition 1 that
would have raised sales tax a tenth of a percent and levied money via car tab
fees to prevent cuts to Metro bus service.
However, it passed in the Seattle portion
of the county so in November it was put to the voters again but just in Seattle to prevent bus
cuts within the city, and this time it passed.
What happened next? Radical bus
cuts in Seattle .
King County Voters outside Seattle said “No” to saving bus service via
higher taxes but still have their service.
Seattle
voters said “Yes” to saving bus service via higher taxes and lost ours. That is a government breach of contract
against Seattle
voters. As one rider stated, this is
government bait and switch. Shouldn’t Seattle drivers be
entitled to a rebate on the car tab fees?
And sales tax should be lowered by .2% to offset the .1% hike that was supposed
to be for preventing bus cuts in Seattle . Did Metro already have an agreement with Sound
Transit to cut Metro service prior to the 2014 Seattle vote?
P.S. don’t blame Metro drivers. This mess is not their fault.
Solutions:
1. Boycott Sound Transit!
Seattle bus service has undergone radical
cuts in an effort to force riders to have to use Sound Transit; but because
Sound Transit does not yet extend into North King County
2. It is time for a class action lawsuit against
government. The government should have
to refund all money raised by the November 2014 Seattle ballet measure: money collected under
false pretenses.
3. Replace King County
Executive, Dow Constantine ,
ASAP. Here is Constantine ’s smug attitude following the
April 2014 countywide election:
“We gave the
voters a choice, and presented a proposal for saving Metro Transit and
maintaining our roads,” Constantine
4. Go back to Seattle
bus service that ends at city limits. Seattle is a city and
should take care of its own first. It’s
not our responsibility to subsidize the rest of the state, which leads to the
next important solution:
5. Divide Washington . The state legislators in Eastern Washington vote
against bus service and other infrastructure for Western Washington, but most
of the state’s revenue comes from Western Washington . A divorce here is needed with no alimony for Eastern Washington .
LINKS OF INTEREST
Diebold to Change Its Name
“. . . Diebold, a
company once known primarily for making safes and ATMs, announced that it has
decided to put some distance between it and its beleaguered voting machine
division . . . “ http://www.wired.com/2007/08/diebold-to-chan/
See Who’s Editing
Wikipedia – Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign
“On
November 17th, 2005, an anonymous Wikipedia user deleted 15 paragraphs from an
article on e-voting machine-vendor Diebold, excising an entire section critical
of the company's machines. While anonymous, such changes typically leave behind
digital fingerprints offering hints about the contributor, such as the location
of the computer used to make the edits.
In this case, the changes came
from an IP address reserved for the corporate offices of Diebold itself.” http://www.wired.com/2007/08/wiki-tracker/
Passenger pushed by fare enforcement officer sues Sound Transit by Natasha
Chen Updated: May 26, 2015
“SEATTLE
KIRO 7 obtained surveillance footage of the Sept. 24, 2013, incident. In the video a Sound Transit fare enforcement officer is seen making the initial contact of pushing the rider, Brandon Creekmore, while Creekmore’s back is partially turned from him. http://www.kiro7.com/news/passenger-pushed-fare-enforcement-officer-sues-sou/43429939
KIRO 7 obtained surveillance footage of the Sept. 24, 2013, incident. In the video a Sound Transit fare enforcement officer is seen making the initial contact of pushing the rider, Brandon Creekmore, while Creekmore’s back is partially turned from him. http://www.kiro7.com/news/passenger-pushed-fare-enforcement-officer-sues-sou/43429939
Who’s
driving those Sound Transit buses and trains?
http://www.soundtransit.org/q-who-s-driving-those-sound-transit-buses-and-trains
Sound Transit Contracting
Opportunities
A sound tomorrow starts today
“Sound Transit has begun the process to shape a Sound Transit 3 (ST3) ballot measure that voters will consider in November 2016. ST3 will build upon the existing mass transit system of light rail, commuter rail and bus services to take people further and faster to destinations throughout King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.” http://www.soundtransit.org/Projects-and-Plans/Sound-Transit-3
“Sound Transit has begun the process to shape a Sound Transit 3 (ST3) ballot measure that voters will consider in November 2016. ST3 will build upon the existing mass transit system of light rail, commuter rail and bus services to take people further and faster to destinations throughout King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.” http://www.soundtransit.org/Projects-and-Plans/Sound-Transit-3
Sound Transit is not faster for Seattleites who have
had our bus service eliminated or who now have to transfer from Metro to Sound
Transit instead of a one-seat ride. Seattle
Shoreline residents stuck in
limbo awaiting Sound Transit to take all or parts of their property, by Kipp Robertson, MyNorthwest.com
Writer | February 13, 2015 http://mynorthwest.com/11/2709797/Shoreline-residents-stuck-in-limbo-awaiting-Sound-Transit-to-take-all-or-parts-of-their-property
