Todd Herman’s Commuter’s Bill of Rights

I have written the Commuter’s Bill of Rights because, we, the citizens of Washington state, are getting slapped around by bureaucrats who don’t care whether we get home at night or not. Washington state just doesn’t care about fighting congestion.

I’ve offered this bill to Bill Bryant, who is running for Governor, and hopefully something can be done after the next election.

A Commuter’s Bill of Rights for Washington state:

1. The top priority of WSDOT is elimination of congestion for travel by car or truck. All budget and performance items will be measured against that goal.

2. Mass Transit moves 2 percent of commuters – it will have no more than 4 percent of the budget — and it will be measured against the goal of moving people from cars to transit, not transit to transit.

3. WSDOT construction projects will be open bid — period.

4. All live, operating budgets for WSDOT projects will be hosted in an open platform, viewable by any member of the public at any time, this will pertain to state budgets and contractor budgets for state projects. Failure to comply will be a criminal offense.

5. All emails, phone calls, meetings and any and all forms of communication between WSDOT and any and all vendors, contractors, suppliers, lobbyists or government employees will be viewable by any member of the public at any time. This will pertain to state budgets and contractor budgets for state projects. Failure to comply will be a criminal offense.

6. Employees of transit organizations will commute to and from work using transit.

7. In the event of a closure of more than 50 percent of lanes for an accident, all HOV lanes and bus only lanes will be opened to the public.

8. The management of Sound Transit will be elected by the people of the taxing districts and no one within the taxing districts will be kept from voting for members.

9. The Executive Director of WSDOT will engage in quarterly press conferences tracking progress at reducing congestion for travel by car or truck.

10. Cities or counties that do not show progress in reducing congestion by car or truck travel will not receive state funds.

Those are my Commuter Bill of Rights for Washington state. Who says I shouldn’t run to be czar of all transportation for Washington state? Man, your life would be so great!