It’s welcome news that King County was able to avoid further cuts to Metro, saving Vashon some modest cuts to its already limited bus service. But our entire region still faces a transportation problem that will only worsen as lawmakers continue to put off finding new funding for buses, roads and ferries.

Recent US Census results show that Seattle is the fastest growing big city in the country. Some credit the area’s now healthy economy with drawing more people. But our region’s transportation systems aren’t benefitting from that healthy economy, even as there are more people to transport. Sales tax revenue, which helps fund Metro buses, is just now rebounding to pre-recession levels. And the state transportation budget, which funds highways and ferries, hasn’t recovered from the loss of the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax. Cuts to ferry routes on Vashon and beyond become more inevitable each year. At the county level, there’s still a plan to let lesser-used roads begin to crumble, for lack of funds to repair them.

Roads, buses and ferries are essential to our growing region, and reliable ferry service is especially vital to Vashon. In Seattle, as traffic worsens, we need bus service that expands to meet demand if we hope to prevent total gridlock. According to King County Metro, 15 percent more bus service is already needed to meet the current need, and ridership is only growing. Something has to be done.

Metro set a good example when, after the failure of a proposition that would have provided extra funding to busses, the agency tightened its belt even more. However, it still had to implement one round of cuts, when 28 routes countywide were eliminated this fall. It’s possible other transportation providers, when pushed, can find further cost savings than they already have. But like Metro, only new dedicated funding will dig them out of the hole and allow them to grow where needed.

Transportation funding has been nearly impossible to find in Olympia, where new taxes require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. Sen. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island) told The Beachcomber that transit needs could take a back seat to education next year as the McCleary Decision and the recent passage of the class size measure, Initiative 1351, force lawmakers to address funding for schools.

Agencies should tighten their belts as Metro did, but lawmakers and voters should also be prepared for taxpayers to support the roads, buses and ferries so badly needed by our region.