It’s unfortunate there can only be one winner in an election, because ultimately, both sides of Proposition 1 voters are on to something—Metro routes should not be cut and costs should not rise. The proposed tax measure would raise sales and use tax by 0.1 percent and increase fees on car tabs to $60. As a result, 60 percent of the funds would help support Metro transit with the rest left to road maintenance in King County. If the measure loses, Metro has reported that service will be cut by 16 percent. Earlier this year, Metro officials said this kind of reduction will cause approximately 50,000 daily trips to disappear.

Of course, this is not okay. As a city of entrepreneurialism, economy and education, we need good transit. But it also needs to be affordable, and the continuous rise of tax-payer costs are only going to temporarily solve a much deeper issue.’

The “no” campaigners give a convincing metaphor to understand the situation. Imagine your car’s gas tank has a hole. If you keep filling the tank up with gas without regard to the leak, you will be spending lots of money to momentarily solve the issue. The better, long-term investment would be to make a structural change, get a new gas tank, or at least purchase a pretty sturdy patch for the tank you have.

And so, too, we find King County Metro which has been refilling its gas tank for a while—tax-payers have agreed to hiked prices four times now according to KOMO news. Maybe it’s finally time to try something new and focus on a structural change; patch internal problems and cost efficiency—basically, just get a new gas tank.

Because in the end, we all just want the car to run.