Before, during, and after the pandemic I have been a transit rider and advocate. I started taking Metro as a teenager to get from Queen Anne to high school in the Central District and now commute with my son to his daycare and my job in downtown Seattle. To me—like so many King County residents—the bus has always meant mobility and freedom—to get to school, to work, to local businesses, and to the great destinations our county has to offer. In addition to being a rider, I am a longtime transit advocate. While serving as President of the UW Graduate and Professional Student Senate at UW Law, concerned that the UW’s U-Pass was threatened because of declining revenue, I worked with fellow student leaders to advocate for a universal U-pass to save the program. Most recently, I helped to mobilize community members and Democrats to urge their policymakers to support local and state public transit investments.

Presenting the GPSS/ASUW proposal universal U-Pass proposal to the Board of Regents.
The King County Council has a critical role in delivering frequent, reliable, and equitable transit to the region. While King County has led in delivering public transit options, our current system does not ensure that all our neighbors have access to fast, reliable, affordable public transit and the impact of the pandemic has left the County with work to do to help Metro Transit recover. In King County and in the 4th Council District, lack of transportation and transportation costs disproportionately impacts communities of color, disabled people, youth, and those with fixed incomes. As your King Council Councilmember, I will work to create a world-class public transit system where everyone in King County has access to reliable, affordable, fast, and safe transit options. We must elevate community voices and particularly those disproportionately impacted by bus deserts and lack of access to transit options to further mobility access and justice. Together we can deliver on the following priorities:
- Improve Metro bus access, frequency, reliability and safety. Restore and increase service hours, frequency, and routes in King County and speed up the transition to zero-emission buses. Build a coalition to pass a countywide measure to adopt a new local option transit revenue to fully implement a system like Metro Connects and deliver faster, frequent, and accessible bus service that connects every community member to the regional transit system and offers incentives to build the workforce of bus operators. The measure should connect every neighbor in the 4th Council District to frequent all day service including, but not limited to frequent two-way service in bus deserts like Sunset Hill. Work with partners in the labor community to direct funding to more and better incentives to hire and retain operators, mechanics, and the other staff who make Metro possible.
- Deliver light rail to Ballard and equitable transit-oriented development. As our region is growing rapidly, work to ensure that light rail to Ballard is delivered on time, connects to pedestrian centers, bus routes, and fully utilizes opportunities for transit-oriented development in a way that creates additional housing and connects our communities.
- Fully implement an income-based fare structure to ensure free transit for those who are cost burdened. King County recently implemented a zero-fare policy for youth so that now all youth can ride transit for free. King County should build on this program by fully adopting an income-based fare system that includes a free transit pass program for all our neighbors that cannot afford to ride.
- Create a program to require and incentivize more employers to fully subsidize transit passes modeled after the Transit Riders Union’s ORCAS FOR ALL campaign.
- Restorative enforcement policies. King County has taken big steps to move away from punitive and towards restorative fare enforcement, but we must continue to work with Sound Transit and other agencies to move towards just and equitable fare enforcement.