Vote to Keep WTA Buses Rolling!
This is important stuff, lurkers. I should warn you of high ranting probability.
Today is the last day to vote on Whatcom County’s Proposition No. 1, which will keep the current WTA routes rolling at the small price of a 0.2% sales tax increase — just two cents for every $10 purchase. WTA’s ridership has vastly increased over the past year, which is great news, but it’s been soaking up a lot of their funding. If this proposition doesn’t pass, WTA is going to have to downsize in some serious ways, and not only by letting go of a significant number of staff members.
As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, Prop 1 failing to pass would mean a 14% service cut — 14%!! In Fall 2010, ALL Sunday routes would be cut. This means the people who rely on the bus wouldn’t be able to get to work or school… and all of you who have attended college for at least two weeks know how important it is to get to and from campus on Sundays. Some other valuable routes that would be changed, reduced or cut are Routes 3 and 4 to the hospital, 25X and 26 to Lynden, and 80x (NOOOOO) to Mount Vernon. You can find WTA’s full fact sheet on Proposition 1 here.
It’s difficult for me to believe that anyone would vote against something so necessary to save two cents for every ten dollars. With these service cuts, we would be compromising someone’s visit to the doctor, someone’s big research paper, someone’s day of paid work. I rely on the WTA to get from place to place, so don’t make me one of those people, lurkers.
