King County Metro Drivers Enjoy the Third-Highest Wages in the Nation

Life is good for King Co. Metro drivers according to this interesting post by Erica Barnett on Publico:

New information released by King County Metro shows that Metro drivers enjoy the third-highest wages in the nation, behind only Boston and San Jose. The top wage for a driver at Metro is $28.47 an hour—higher than drivers’ wages in much more expensive cities like San Francisco ($27.92) and New York ($28).

Metro drivers have also enjoyed significant wage increases over the years, averaging a 3.9 percent annual increase since 2004. That’s significantly higher than the Consumer Price Index (inflation rate) in Seattle, which rose an average of 3.2 percent a year between 2004 and 2008 and just 0.6 percent in 2009.

Only Las Vegas transit operators, who enjoyed an average wage increase over the past five years of 4.5 percent, had a larger pay increase—and they make far less than Metro drivers, topping out at just $19.60.

Meanwhile, Metro projects a budget shortfall due to declining sales-tax revenues of $600 million over the next three years.

You can read the rest here.