Seattle voters are once again being asked to chip in more to fund a public service, this time by doubling the sales tax devoted to buses.

With the backing of an array of elected officials, labor unions and transit advocates — and no organized opposition — supporters of the ballot measure predict voters will show the same goodwill they did for a similar measure six years ago.

The Seattle Transit Measure, designed by Mayor Katie Wilson and on the ballot as Seattle Proposition 1, would charge a 0.3% sales tax, about 30 cents on a $100 purchase, and raise an average of $138 million per year over the next 10 years aimed at expanding bus service and programs for people with low incomes.

The measure is a bookend of sorts to pandemic-era transit funding, as ridership plummeted off a cliff in Seattle and across the U.S. and governments reeled in the early months of the global crisis. Four out of five Seattle voters gave the green light in 2020 to help buttress funding for local transit, showing a willingness to spend during the uncertain time.

Proposition 1 comes at another unsteady moment. It would nudge the city's growing sales tax closer to 11%, just as the nation debates affordability, and as Washington voters consider a repeal of the millionaires tax," a 9.9% income tax on household income above $1 million.

Proposition 1 replaces the 2020 tax, set to expire next year. But its rate is doubled, and is expected to raise more than twice the revenue as inflation, tariffs, war and other global economic events push prices higher.

The city says the median two-person household in Seattle would pay $29 more per person each year in sales taxes, for a total of $58.

Sales tax increases have come from both King County and Seattle councils, but this goes to a public vote, as required by state law since it is a sales tax increase above 0.1% and supports transit.

Seattle voters have generally approved transit-related measures, but the slow uptick of the local sales tax may dampen enthusiasm.

In October 2025, the Seattle City Council approved an additional 0.1% sales tax for public safety, with the added tax expected to raise roughly $40 million in 2026 to help fund increases in alternative police response, add 911 dispatchers, backfill funding for the arrest-diversion program LEAD, add treatment and postoverdose recovery beds and increase funding for new firefighter recruits.

This month, the Metropolitan King County Council approved a small boost to the sales tax to increase emergency shelter options for homeless children and families, though the spending plan is not fully defined. That 0.01% increase, raises taxes by 1 penny on a $100 retail purchase, starting Jan. 1, or about $4 per year for the median taxpayer. That tax was to bring the total retail tax in Seattle to 10.56%, among the highest in the nation.

Approval of the Seattle Transit Measure would push the rate to 10.71%.

Increasing ridership

Though ridership is still below what was recorded before the pandemic, King County Metro has regained passengers more quickly than most other transit agencies in the U.S., according to the American Public Transportation Association.

Elected officials and transit advocates argue the funding must remain in place, and be expanded, to keep those gains and others made in recent years. The money, they say, made the bus more accessible to everyone and helped make Seattle one of the least car-dependent cities in the U.S., at a time when federal transit funding is uncertain and state transportation dollars are limited.

There is no organized opposition to the measure, but its critics argue that Seattle is still largely dominated by drivers, and spending more on transit is not guaranteed to increase ridership, which remains well below numbers seen before 2020.

In 2019, Metro recorded nearly 128.7 million passengers. In 2025, it saw about 94.5 million — up from 53 million riders in 2021.

Despite the increase in the regressive sales tax, which places the same burden on all regardless of income, supporters of the measure say the people who are hit hardest by a higher sales tax rely on transit the most, justifying the trade-off.

"Overall this is just going to help us afford to live in our expensive city," said Kirk Hovenkotter, executive director of Transportation Choices Coalition, a statewide group that advocates for expanded transit. "And it's going to make people’s buses come more often."

The money would maintain the current level of bus service, but also support more frequent trips aimed at lower-income and more diverse neighborhoods, as well as late at night and over the weekend.

Most of the tax, $94.6 million, will support bus service every year, with $23.4 million heading to the Seattle Streetcar, its only source of funding.

The money would basically pay Metro for more Seattle bus service, adding about 95,000 bus trips a year, in addition to the 180,000 trips the previous measure already funds.

About $9 million would go to transit access programs and education, including 12,000 annual passes for people living in Seattle Housing Authority units. Current funding fully subsidizes 10,000 passes. With the addition, the majority of Seattle residents living in low-income subsidized housing will have access to free transit.

About $6 million a year would support Sound Transit 3 light rail projects, funding up to 10 full-time staff positions to help expedite permits and provide construction oversight for the Graham Street Station and the proposed lines to West Seattle and Ballard.

The money would also fund sidewalks, improved crossings, pedestrian lighting, bike lanes and corrals, and improved bus stops near the city’s light rail stations.

About $5 million a year would go to transit infrastructure projects that help keep transit running on schedule and improve travel times. This could include more bus lanes, like the one recently built on Denny Way, and signal enhancements to allow buses to travel more quickly during heavy traffic.

The measure was approved and put on the ballot by the City Council, but it is a creation of Mayor Wilson, an ardent transit supporter whose path to City Hall began with the Transit Riders Union, and built on two previous transit measures, from 2014 and 2020.

In 2014, 62% of voters approved a 0.1% sales tax that, combined with a $60 car-tab fee, raised more than $50 million a year. The revenue added 8,000 weekly trips to King County Metro routes. It also paid for transit passes for students and people with low incomes.

In 2020, 80% of voters approved an increase to sales tax — to 0.15% — and retired the car tab fee. The city bought more bus service from Metro, and continued the work of the older measure to subsidize transit passes, install bus lanes on streets like Rainier Avenue South and fund capital projects related to light rail and RapidRide bus service.

Supporters of this year's measure are well organized, under the Hop on Board Seattle advocacy group, and include Wilson, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, and multiple labor and transportation advocacy groups.

Greg Woodfill, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 acknowledged the measure would likely benefit his members — “It's hours, it’s jobs" — but said his union backed it because Seattle wants more transit.

"The average Seattle voter recognizes this is a critical public utility that they’re willing to fund," he said. "It really is what makes us a world class city. Most people recognize that even if they’re not using public transit, it’s taking cars off the road, and that supports climate goals, and equity goals.

Charles Prestrud, the transportation center director at Washington Policy Center, disagreed. People don't really understand what they're voting for, he said in a debate with Woodfill on Seattle Channel.

Voters have approved similar tax increases for a dozen years and think “someone else is going to pay for it,” Prestrud said, without realizing it raises costs on everyone.

Low-income workers still need to drive in Seattle, he said, pointing to census data showing that about 70% of people earning below $50,000 a year in the metro area use a car to commute.

Prestrud also noted that increased transit service doesn't guarantee higher ridership, and questioned why consumers should pay more while many passengers evade paying fares.

Metro estimates about 34% of passengers don't pay fares countywide.

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