page_title: King County Metro
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: King County Metro / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Original photograph by Theodore Peiser [6]. F.H. Osgoode (manager and chief owner) standing near horses, E.B. Downing on back steps. George Washington (black man) was the driver. Occidental Hotel (James St. at Yesler Way) and the Yesler Building (Yesler Way at 1st Ave.) in background. See also PH Coll 282.57 Subjects (LCTGM): Horse railroads--Washington (State)--Seattle; Buildings--Washington (State)--Seattle Subjects (LCSH): Seattle Street Railway&#160;; Leary, John&#160;; Osgoode, F.H.&#160;; Downing, E.B.&#160;; Washington, George&#160;; Yesler Building
context_page_description: King County Metro, officially the King County Metro Transit Department and often shortened to Metro, is the public transit authority of King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle. It is the eighth-largest transit bus agency in the United States, carrying an average of 395,000 passengers each weekday on 215 routes. Metro employs 2,716 full-time and part-time operators and operates 1,540 buses.
  King County Metro formally began operations on January 1, 1973, but can trace its roots to the Seattle Transit System, founded in 1939, and Overlake Transit Service, a private operator founded in 1927 to serve the Eastside. Metro is also contracted to operate and maintain Sound Transit's Central Link light rail line and eight of the agency's Sound Transit Express bus routes along with the Seattle Streetcar lines owned by the City of Seattle. Metro's services include electric trolleybuses in Seattle, RapidRide enhanced buses on six lines, commuter routes along the regional freeway system, dial-a-ride routes, paratransit services, and overnight buses.
context_section_description: A horse-drawn streetcar rail system debuted in Seattle in 1884 as the Seattle Street Railway. In 1918, the city of Seattle bought many parts of the Seattle Street Railway, on terms which left the transit operation in financial trouble.
  In 1939, a new transportation agency, the Seattle Transit System, was formed, which refinanced the remaining debt and began replacing equipment with "trackless trolleys" (as they were known) and motor buses. The final streetcar ran on April 13, 1941.
  The Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle was created by a local referendum on September 9, 1958, as a regional authority tasked with management of wastewater and water quality issues in King County. The authority was formed after civic leaders, including those in the Municipal League, noted that solutions to regional issues were complicated by local boundaries and a plethora of existing special districts. The state legislature approved the formation of a combined transportation, sewage, and planning authority in 1957, but the countywide referendum was rejected by a majority outside of Seattle. Metro, as the authority came to be called, was restricted to sewage management and given a smaller suburban jurisdiction ahead of the successful September referendum. By 1967, the agency had completed its $125 million sewage treatment system, which diverted 20 million gallons (76 million liters) that had previously contaminated Lake Washington.
  After two failed attempts to enable it to build a regional rapid transit system, it was authorized to operate a regional bus system in 1972. The bus system was known as Metro Transit and began operations on January 1, 1973. Its operations subsumed the Seattle Transit System, formerly under the purview of the City of Seattle and the Metropolitan Transit Corporation, a private company serving suburban cities in King County. In the early 1970s, the private Metropolitan faced bankruptcy because of low ridership. King County voters authorized Metro to buy Metropolitan and operate the county's mass transit bus system. Metro Transit introduced its new services in September 1973, including a ride-free area in downtown and express routes on freeways (known as "Flyer" routes), and a unified numbering scheme in 1977 that replaced named routes.
  The Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle was overseen by a federated board of elected officials, composed of elected officials from cities throughout the region. Its representation structure was ruled unconstitutional in 1990. In 1992, after gaining approval by popular vote, the municipality's roles and authorities were assumed by the government of King County. The municipality's transit operations was a stand-alone department within the county until 1996, when it became a division of the newly created King County Department of Transportation. In August 2018, the county council approved legislation to separate Metro from the Department of Transportation, creating the King County Metro Transit Department effective January 1, 2019.
  After completion of the downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel project, attention was drawn again to developing a regional rail system. This interest led to the formation of the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (more commonly known as Sound Transit) which holds primary responsibility for planning and building high capacity transit in the counties of King, Pierce and Snohomish, in western Washington state.
  Today, King County Metro operates more than 200 routes, providing local and regional transit service, primarily within its jurisdictional boundaries. Besides its own transit operations, Metro operates several ST Express bus routes and the Central Link light rail line under a contract with Sound Transit and two streetcar routes under contract with Seattle Streetcar.
caption: Seattle Street Railway's first streetcar at Occidental Avenue and Yesler Way with Mayor John Leary and city officials in the fall of 1884
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