Local

Sound Transit spent more than $20 million on marketing over ten years

Sound Transit spent more than $20 million on advertising and marketing over the last ten years, according to an agency analysis requested by KIRO 7.

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This week, the transit agency will finalize plans to ask taxpayers to approve a $54 billion light rail expansion in November, and critics have raised concerns about how much the agency spends on marketing.

"It's a waste of taxpayer dollars and it's taking from transit service," said former King County Council member Maggie Fimia of Smarter Transit, a group opposing the upcoming ballot measure and suggesting investment in more cost-efficient buses instead.

You're more likely to see ads for Sound Transit than any other local transportation agency, and with annual spending averaging around $2 million for marketing, KIRO 7's Graham Johnson asked Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray if that was extravagant.

"We don't think its extravagant at all," Gray replied.

Gray said the spending is on par with other transit agencies that are expanding and trying to get people to change their commutes.

"We're a system that is growing, expanding several billion dollars worth of new services during this period of time and we want people to know that these new lines are open," Gray said.

Gray pointed to a growth in ridership, from 13.7 million boardings in 2007 to 41.4 million in 2016, as evidence that the spending was worthwhile.

"If we just opened those (new light rail services) up and didn't say a word about it and just let folks trickle in, I think you'd see our ridership growth go a lot slower," Gray said.

"Supposedly we've funded these projects because they're needed. And if they're needed and wanted, why do you have to advertise to get people to ride them? That does not make sense," Fimia said.

Sound Transit says in the decade it spent more than $20 million on marketing, those costs were partly offset by selling more than $11 million in advertising space on buses and trains.