I was delighted to see two stories this week in which big local businesses made investments in public transit to benefit their employees and the region as a whole.
In the city of Seattle, Amazon invested $1.5M in a partnership with King County Metro to boost coverage of some of the lines that cover their HQ. Having ridden some of these lines (shout-out to the 70!), I know just how overwhelmed they are during rush hour. This investment will make our buses more pleasant for Amazon employees and the rest of us!
Microsoft is thinking longer term. With the state of Washington, the province of British Columbia, and other local companies they've helped fund a high-speed rail survey. The goal is to connect Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver - building a interconnected tech region to rival Silicon Valley and other prosperous tech regions.
As our region grows, and becomes increasingly congested, we need other ways of getting around. Making investments in transit infrastructure will lead to happy employees and happy cities!