Seattle Transit Measure: History as the STBD (2014 to 2020)

A Route 4 trolleybus climbs Taylor Ave N in Queen Anne. (Ken Robinette)

The Seattle Transit Measure (STM) is a 0.15% sales tax that raises $50 million each year to boost bus service and make transit safer, faster, and more accessible in the City of Seattle. Originally passed in 2014 as the Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD), it was renewed and renamed in 2020 as the STM. The STM expires next spring and Mayor Wilson's administration is expected to put a renewal on the ballot this fall.

This three-part series investigates how the STBD came to be, how it evolved into the STM, and what lies ahead given its impending expiration and the massive opportunity we have to expand bus service in Seattle.

Cuts That Never Came

After the 2008 Great Recession and subsequent collapse of sales tax revenue, King County Metro faced what they projected to be a dire fiscal cliff. Despite almost doubling fares, increasing fees, economizing, and exhausting reserve funds, the agency had run out of ways to save money. By the end of 2013, Metro predicted it needed to cut service by 16% to stay above water. To avert this, in April 2014, voters in King County were faced with a choice: increase the sales tax with a county-wide Transportation Benefit District to improve transit and roads, or cut bus service. County voters chose the latter and Metro began planning countywide service reductions.

Saving the day in Seattle was Mayor Ed Murray's Plan D': a proposal to utilize the taxing authority of Seattle's own Transportation Benefit District (already established in 2010 to fund road maintenance) to propose a Seattle-only measure to ward off the worst cuts in Seattle. In November 2014, voters in Seattle approved a 0.1% sales tax increase and an additional annual $60 Vehicle License Fee (VLF, or car tab') for vehicles registered in Seattle, beginning an ongoing saga of city-funded bus service in Seattle.

Unexpectedly (and to the benefit of transit riders), between Seattle submitting its measure to King County Elections and voters approving it, King County canceled two-thirds of its planned service reductions, citing better than expected sales tax revenue. Thus, the city was blessed with $45 million a year earmarked by voters to fund bus service in a system that was no longer facing drastic cuts.

Expanding Frequent Transit, Off-Peak Service

Around 90% of the funds generated by the measure were dedicated to Provide funding for Metro Transit service hours" (full text here). As such, Seattle began purchasing a lot of service hours from Metro. And as sales tax revenue increased, so did service.

The number of service hours funded by the STBD from 2015 to 2019 from SDOT's annual reports.

The STBD also saved Seattle's Night Owl network and restructured it from a bespoke, night-only network to the continuation of the day network we have today, providing night service on the 3, 5, 7, 11, 36, 44, 48, 49, 65, 67, 70, 120, 124, and RapidRides C, D, and E Lines.

Within 6 months of the STBD's passage, Mayor Ed Murray's administration unveiled what would become the 2015 Move Seattle Transportation Levy which included in it a goal to Provide 72% of Seattle residents with 10-minute all-day transit service within a 10-minute walk of their homes" by 2025. At the time, only 25% of Seattle enjoyed this luxury. Thanks to STBD funding, 51% of households were within walking distance of very frequent transit in 2016. And by 2019, 70% of Seattle households had access to frequent transit, essentially reaching the goal 5 years early.

Percent of Seattle Households with Access to Very Frequent Transit Service from the STBD's Fall 2020 report. (SDOT)

Between 2015 and 2020, funding allowed new routes to reach the Frequent Transit Network's (FTN) targets. Routes 40, 41, 44, 48, 65, 67, 70, and 120 became part of the every 10 minute network and routes 1, 5, 10, 11, 14, 60, 62, 106, and 124 became part of the every 15 minute network, all because of added STBD funding.

The Frequent Transit Network in March 2020 (SDOT). Dark blue lines are 10-minute service, teal is 15, and grey is 30. Thick lines reached their frequency target only with STBD funding. Click to view full-size.Low Income Access to Transit

In addition to funding transit service, the STBD allotted $2M a year to improve and support access to transit service for low-income riders. After ORCA LIFT was established in 2015 (with advocacy from the Transit Riders Union), this money expanded awareness of the program within Seattle, funded free ORCA cards, and funded the Downtown Circulator. By 2018, participation in ORCA LIFT had increased from 11% to 28% of eligible residents, far higher than the countywide adoption rate.

Funding was also allocated to increase awareness of the Senior Regional Reduced Fare Permit (RRFP), Youth Ambassadors, and a car tab rebate for low income drivers. In 2018, residents of Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) properties became eligible for free unlimited ORCA cards as well.

The STBD also funded free ORCA cards for low-income SPS students that didn't already get an ORCA card or school bus service. In 2018, Seattle expanded this program to provide year round ORCA use for all SPS high school and income eligible middle school students as well as Seattle Promise scholars.

Metro Capacity Constraints, More Goals

By 2018, the STBD had amassed a very large reserve fund totalling about $38M (half a year of revenue) and King County Metro was unable to provide enough service to meet the STBD's demands due to staffing and insufficient base capacity. Instead of increasing the reserves further, in 2018 Seattle City Council passed the first material change" to the STBD to increase the number of programs the money could be spent on without voter approval.

The STBD reserve fund balance 2015-2020 from SDOT's annual reports.

Included in the reforms was an increase in the number of routes eligible for STBD money from those with 80% of stops within Seattle to just 65% including all RapidRides, funding the ORCA Opportunity program (free ORCA cards for students), and allocating funding for transit capital projects like spot improvements to be completed before the levy's expiration in 2020. The Trailhead Direct program was also created with the STBD funding 50% of its operations.

STBD spending by category. Transit service is the largest by far.Tim Eyman Strikes Back

In 2019, for the third time, serial initiative-filer Tim Eyman filed and Washington voters approved Initiative 976, capping car tabs to $30 a year. A significant source of funding for Sound Transit and the STBD, it represented a huge blow to transit funding in Puget Sound.

Seattle and several other municipalities sued and the initiative was halted. While it was being sorted out in court, Seattle could still collect car tabs for the STBD, but couldn't spend the revenue until the Washington Supreme Court ruled whether I-976 was constitutional. Despite this, the STBD reserve fund was large enough such that the revenue cut didn't actually dent expenditures.

In October 2020, the state supreme court finally struck down the initiative, which unlocked the revenue Seattle had been saving.

STBD Legacy

By 2020, the STBD had been wildly successful, transforming Seattle into probably the only mid-sized American city where nearly everyone lived within walking distance of very frequent transit.

As the rest of the country suffered a Ridership Emergency over the 2010s, in 2018 Puget Sound was the only major region in the United States that had more bus riders than in 2004. The region led the nation in transit ridership with 50% more riders than in 2004 even though the population only grew 25% over the same period.

Change in transit ridership by major US region 2002-2018. Seattle had 50% more riders in 2018 than 2004. The next closest was around 25% more. (Yonah Freemark)

The STBD also transformed the most expensive city in the state with the most regressive tax code into a place many more people could afford to live. ORCA LIFT revolutionized access to transit and its existence was only known largely due to STBD funding, all public high school students rode transit free, and the frequent transit network made living without a car possible in nearly the entire city.

Despite its successes, the STBD's expiration in 2020 coincided with the largest change in travel behavior in modern American history. And, with sluggish transit ridership and a new mayor, the STBD's renewal looked a lot different than its creation.

Nick Sattele (he/him) foundedFix the L8andco-leadsCentral Seattle Greenways. He grew up in transit desert suburbia in Ohio and made his way to Seattle in 2021. You can find him dancing or jumping ropefaster than the bus.