Phasing of service

In addition to other services provided by Transit Now, Metro is authorized to fund 90,000 annual transit service hours (defined at bottom of page) through partnership agreements with outside organizations.

The 90,000 hours are cumulative over a period of years; that is, each year a certain number of partnership services can begin, while earlier partnership hours continue, until the total share funded by Metro equals 90,000 hours annually. If it appears that all 90,000 hours will be used, Metro may ask the Metropolitan King County Council to authorize up to 30,000 more annual hours starting in 2009.

A tentative phasing of service partnership hours is shown in the table below, based on estimated revenue, availability of buses, and other factors. Metro will work with service partnership applicants to determine when a partnership can begin.

Potential phasing of new Metro service partnership hours added each year

Hours	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	Total
Metro-funded	5,000	23,000	12,000	35,000	6,000	5,000	5,000	90,000
Partner-funded	2,500	11,500	6,000	17,500	3,000	2,500	2,500	45,000

Notes:

Services from each partnership continue for at least five years. This table shows only the new hours for each year.
Peak-period services can be added starting in 2009 with the availability of new buses.
Partner-funded hours show a one-third match to Metro hours as an example for direct financial partnerships. Some Metro-funded hours will match speed and reliability partnerships.

Transit service hours, or “platform hours,” means the time a bus is on the road, from its starting point at a base and back to the base or terminal of its trip, including layovers and “deadhead” time (time without passengers). The number of service hours of a route depends on the length of the route and its frequency and span of service. For reference, an average peak route requires about 6000 to 7500 hours.

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Last update: November 19, 2007