Funding transit yields happiness

Below is my submitted written testimony to the King County Council on sustaining funding for Metro Transit. For more information, please refer to the links below

• Background on Metro Transist Funding
• Submit written testimony online

Thank you for ensuring that public testimony can be submitted online. This is quite helpful for individuals like me who cannot always attend hearings due to work and child care responsibilities. With that, I want to voice my support for sustaining Metro funding through a council vote, rather than turning it to the voters at large.

Like the majority of Metro riders, I depend on it to get to work. While I can drive, I actively make a choice not to do so. Part of this is a financial concern. Another concern is that for the environment. Most of all, I ride Metro for my own happiness. Having driven to work in previous jobs, when I am stuck in traffic, I am stressed. This was not good for interpersonal relationships with family, friends, and even my neighbors. Now, my time on the bus enables me to put aside the stresses of the day, and of traffic. I can choose to engage with my other passengers, read a book, or just relax and look out the window. No matter what I do on the bus, this helps my piece of mind and makes me a better partner, father, neighbor, friend, and resident of our great region.

The proposed cuts to Metro would dramatically limit transportation options for me, and millions of other residents. If just a fraction of them take time on Metro to have a moment of happiness, not funding Metro will lead to an overall decline in the overall well being of hundreds of thousands in the region. I encourage you to represent the residents of King County with your vote to sustain Metro funding and lead us all to a place of greater happiness for us all.

Product design, experience, and transit

disclaimer -- I *try* to take the bus as often as I can to avoid sitting in traffic

That being said, I'd rather have rapid transit of some other kind. A friend once tried explain to me the benefits of Bus Rapid Transit options with dedicated lanes, but I was never really sold. Today I ran across an article that better articulated the problems -- in short, the overall design and experience leaves a lot to be desired.

This makes perfect sense when thinking about overall consumer product design. Here's another article that talks of the need for good design as it relates to global issues.

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For all planners (myself included), policy makers, elected officials...perhaps we need to get crisper on articulating what the problem is so we can better address the key issues?