SEATTLE, Wash. — Seattle voters appear poised to approve a measure that would double the city’s existing transit sales tax, generating an estimated $138 million a year for expanded bus service, transit access programs, and other transportation projects.
Early election results Wednesday afternoon showed roughly 73% of voters supporting the Seattle Transit Measure.
The measure would replace Seattle’s existing 0.15% transit sales tax with a 0.3% tax for the next 10 years. The city estimates the new tax would cost the median two-person Seattle household about $58 per year, or $4.83 per month. That is about $29 more annually than the median household currently pays toward the transit measure.
According to the city, the measure is designed to fund about 275,000 bus trips in Seattle every year -- 95,000 more than today.
The additional service would include more buses on weekends and during midday, evening, and overnight hours outside traditional commuting periods.
The measure would generate an estimated $138 million annually, with 86% dedicated to transit service. The city says about $94.6 million would go toward bus service and $23.4 million toward Seattle’s two streetcar lines.
Another $9 million a year would support transit access programs, including free ORCA cards for approximately 22,000 people. Those programs are aimed at groups including low-income residents, older adults, and families with young children.
About $5 million a year would go toward infrastructure projects intended to improve bus reliability and travel times, such as bus lanes, signal improvements, bus stops, and lighting.
The measure also includes an average of $6.1 million a year to support the city’s work on Sound Transit 3 projects. That money can fund city staff working on project management, planning, engineering, permitting, and environmental review, as well as improvements around future light rail stations.
That could include work connected to the planned West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions, which have faced uncertainty as Sound Transit works to address significant financial pressures.
Jonathan Gonzalez, co-lead for Save Ballard Rail, told KIRO 7 that the city funding could help move projects, such as the Ballard extension, along, but said it cannot resolve the much larger financial challenges facing the project.
“It’s great,” Gonzalez said. “That means that, at the very least, the city is doing what it can to make that process faster, but it’s, unfortunately, for Ballard, in particular, the numbers that we’re talking about are so big.”
Pierce County voters also back transit expansion
Seattle was not the only place where voters appeared willing to pay more for transit.
Initial election results indicate Pierce County voters approved Proposition 1, which increases Pierce Transit’s sales tax rate from 0.6% to 0.9%.
That amounts to an additional three cents in sales tax for every $10 spent on qualifying purchases within the Pierce Transit service area. The new rate is scheduled to take effect April 1, 2027.
Pierce Transit says the additional funding will allow the agency to increase local transit service by 47%.
The expansion is expected to be phased in the beginning of 2027, with full implementation targeted for the end of 2032.
Plans include new bus routes, more frequent service on existing routes, later evening service, seasonal waterfront trolley routes, and service for special events. Pierce Transit also plans to expand its SHUTTLE paratransit program and improve connections between local and regional transit.
Starting April 1, 2027, residents 65 and older with a Regional Reduced Fare Permit would also be able to ride Pierce Transit buses for free. Youth already ride free.
Pierce Transit says expanding service will take time because the agency must hire and train additional operators and purchase new buses, which can take two to three years to arrive after they are ordered.