The Metropolitan King County Council voted Nov. 17 to fully fund current levels of Metro service. The unanimously adopted 2015-2016 biennial King County Budget ensures that 400,000 annual hours of proposed service reductions at Metro Transit will not take place.

Following the defeat of Proposition 1 in April of this year, County Executive Dow Constantine asked the council to approve legislation that would have reduced Metro bus service by 550,000 hours between September 2014 and September 2015.

In July, after months of debate, the Council passed compromise legislation that adopted only the service reductions originally proposed for September of this year, totaling 151,000 hours of annual bus service. These reductions cut bus routes that were in the bottom 25 percent of productivity, in accordance with the county’s adopted Transit Service Guidelines. Further reductions were deferred pending additional Council action and the adoption of the 2015-2016 budget.

“It has been an uncertain time for the nearly 200,000 people who rely on Metro every day to get to work, school, and medical appointments,” said Councilmember Dembowski in a press release. “Today’s action sent a clear, definitive, and united message from the County Council – there will be no further reductions of Metro bus service in this budget cycle. At the same time, we are growing reserves to prepare for a future recession.”

The growing economy coupled with additional efficiencies identified by Metro allowed the council to stave off further cuts. The independent Office of Economic and Financial Analysis released their Metro sales-tax forecast in March and July of this year, which came in much more robust than previously projected.

“We live in one of the fastest growing counties in the nation and the demand for an efficient and reliable transportation system is higher than ever, this is not a time to be cutting service,” Dembowski said in the release.