Transit Systems Washington State

Gov. Booth Gardner on Wednesday signed into law America's highest state gasoline tax, 22 cents a gallon as of April 1. Gardner also signed a measure that provides local-option financing for planning and building light rail, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, or other locally determined transportation projects.

Dick Falkenbury wasn't alone when sitting up in the driver's seat of his big tour bus, cursing the long lines of traffic. Seattle hates traffic--hates it, most surveys show, worse than every other urban ill combined. Falkenbury, in the 45-minute drive from the airport to the hotel on the other end of his route, had plenty of time to mull it over. And when he did, he came up with a monorail.

After this week, buses will begin disappearing from downtown Seattle. They're going underground. While other West Coast cities--San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland--may see their transit future in rail systems, Seattle has cast its lot with the bus.

Jay Costa points to a corner of his cubicle. "I used to have two huge cabinets, four drawers each," he says. "Now I just have this one little white one." The cabinets--crammed with paperwork essential to managing bus building contracts for Costa's employer, the King County Department of Metropolitan Services in Seattle--and four others that occupied his boss's office once formed an information traffic jam.

Jay Costa points to a corner of his cubicle. "I used to have two huge cabinets, four drawers each," he says. "Now I just have this one little white one." The cabinets--crammed with paperwork essential to managing bus building contracts for Costa's employer, the King County Department of Metropolitan Services in Seattle--and four others that occupied his boss's office once formed an information traffic jam.

Dick Falkenbury wasn't alone when sitting up in the driver's seat of his big tour bus, cursing the long lines of traffic. Seattle hates traffic--hates it, most surveys show, worse than every other urban ill combined. Falkenbury, in the 45-minute drive from the airport to the hotel on the other end of his route, had plenty of time to mull it over. And when he did, he came up with a monorail.

After this week, buses will begin disappearing from downtown Seattle. They're going underground. While other West Coast cities--San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland--may see their transit future in rail systems, Seattle has cast its lot with the bus.

Gov. Booth Gardner on Wednesday signed into law America's highest state gasoline tax, 22 cents a gallon as of April 1. Gardner also signed a measure that provides local-option financing for planning and building light rail, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, or other locally determined transportation projects.