Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson on Tuesday rolled out a plan to renew and expand the city’s Seattle Transit Measure, aiming to bring back bus frequency that vanished after the pandemic and to keep subsidized fares in place for low-income riders. Her administration is pitching the package as a way to rebuild reliable, frequent transit service and to protect the programs riders already lean on. Wilson’s office plans to send the proposal to the City Council this spring, kicking off public hearings and setting up a possible voter referral later this year.
As first reported by KING5, Wilson outlined a renewal that would go beyond a simple extension of current funding by adding service hours and shielding equity-focused programs from cuts. KING5’s coverage included video of the mayor speaking to transit advocates and city staff about why keeping local money flowing to buses and street-level service is critical right now.
According to the Seattle Department of Transportation, the Seattle Transit Measure currently bankrolls extra bus trips and subsidized passes for low-income residents, and it is scheduled to expire in April 2027. SDOT’s renewal page notes that the mayor will send a renewal proposal in late spring 2026, after which the City Council will take public comment, deliberate over the summer, and decide whether to send a measure to voters. The department says the renewal work is coordinated with regional partners so Seattle’s local investments line up with Sound Transit and King County plans.
What the renewal could fund
Local analysts point out that the STM is funded by a 0.15% city sales tax and a small vehicle-license fee, and that the Transportation Benefit District framework actually gives Seattle more taxing authority than it currently taps. As Seattle Transit Blog explains, the city is using only about half of its Transportation Benefit District sales-tax authority right now. Using the full 0.3% could bring in an estimated 70 to 75 million dollars more each year, which advocates say could fully fund SDOT’s Frequent Transit Network and significantly bolster night service. The blog also highlighted an existing STM shortfall and laid out how different revenue mixes – relying more on sales tax, leaning harder on vehicle fees, or pursuing a countywide package – would change the level of service Seattle can actually buy.
Timeline and politics
“We’re going to… advance a transformative Seattle Transportation Measure that gets us on track to restore and surpass the levels of transit service we had reached before the pandemic,” Mayor Wilson said in her State of the City remarks. The Office of the Mayor ties the measure to near-term needs, including the influx of visitors expected for the FIFA World Cup, and casts it as a central budget priority. If the mayor sends the proposal on the timetable SDOT describes, council review, public hearings, and any ballot referral would play out over the summer, and that schedule will determine whether the measure lands on this year’s ballots…