Whatcom Transportation Authority is trying to save their transit service.

In the last year, they’ve been forced to cut $2 million in service – and they’re looking at another $4 million in cuts next year, including most evening and all Sunday service. That cut would be devastating – WTA had the highest percentage ridership increase of any agency in the nation in 2008, with 32% more riders – Whatcom County has a huge number of transit dependent rural, fixed-income, and student residents.

Whatcom’s GO lines have only recently started offering 15 minute service – the agency has been trying very hard to provide services that let people actually live without a car, and now they’re one of the hardest hit by the recession. A sales tax increase is their only option to raise more revenue, and it’s a hard sell.

If you want to help them out, have a look at Transportation Choices Coalition’s post about the campaign. I don’t know if we have many readers from up that way, but if you have friends at Western, this would be a great thing to call them about.

Yesterday, the city council released the executive summary from its 520 replacement study. The conclusion? Basically, there aren’t any options on the table that meet all of the councils goals effectively, but the city council could pursue some changes on the margins. Publicola reports:

In addition to suggesting that the city council push for higher occupancy minimums for HOV lanes and continue to work with the legislature for more transit on the bridge, the council’s report recommended that the state reduce the size of the Montlake Interchange on the Seattle side of the bridge; ditch a proposed seventh lane over Portage Bay, instead using bridge shoulders for merging and I-5 exiting; and working to reduce the impact of traffic on the environmentally sensitive Arboretum.

The Times also has a nice break-down of the report.

In related news, the Mayor’s office was planning on releasing its report about light rail over the new SR-520 span but now they’re planning on “putting it out early next week,” according to Aaron Pickus, a spokesman for McGinn.

Over the last few years, STB grown into a pretty significant site, and an essential source for people interested in transit in the Puget Sound region.  Now that the site’s credibility is well established, it’s time to come clean.

The actual author of this site is me, Joey DiCarlo, pictured at right.  I’m a Greenwood resident and a student at Ingraham High School.  The STB bylines you’ve seen here for years have been carefully constructed identities.

And what a lot of effort it’s been!  Maintaining several different email addresses, keeping track of which “writers” cover which issues, trying to develop a unique style for each… probably the hardest part was getting some of my father’s friends and coworkers to play the roles of the STB staff for the meetups and provide photos for the About Us page.

In retrospect, I don’t think all my characters were that successful.  I ran out of stuff for Andrew to write and had to “retire” him.  John and Martin sort of sounded alike.  Ben was sometimes a bit over the top, and I never found much occasion to use Oran or Eric’s voice.

Why go through all that trouble?  It’s hard to get taken seriously when you’re  a 15-year old high school student blogging out of your parents’ basement.  And being known as the author of a serious blog can complicate the social life of a teenager.  But now, it’s time to end the facade.  I think I’ve proven my credentials with my body of work on this site; I hope you’ll stay with us me as I continue to advocate for improved public transit in Seattle.

Our next meetup will be on Wednesday, April 14th at 5:30pm, at the Taphouse Grill (1506 6th Ave), about a block from the Westlake station in downtown Seattle.  This is an all-ages location.

Their excellent happy hour ends at 6:30, so you might want to get there on time-ish.