King County Metro - History

History

The Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, or Seattle Metro, was created by a local referendum in 1958 authorized to manage regional wastewater and water quality issues in King County. 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 and began operations in 1973. Its operations subsumed Seattle Transit, formerly under the purview of the City of Seattle, and the Metropolitan Transit Corporation, a private company serving suburban cities in King County. The Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle was overseen by a federated board of elected officials in King County. 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. 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, also 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. Metro Transit continues to provide local and regional transit service connections, primarily within its jurisdictional boundaries. Besides its own transit operations, Metro operates ST Express bus and Central Link light rail service for Sound Transit.