Metro Transit operators and the King County executive have negotiated a three-year contract that will help stabilize Metro’s fiscal crisis.

With transit riders across the region facing a loss of up to 20 percent of the bus system over the next four years, transit operators stepped up in a big way to help save the system, said County Councilmember, Larry Phillips, Chair of the Council’s Environment and Transportation Committee.

The operators will forgo cost of living allowance (COLA) increases next year and accept substantially reduced COLA increases in 2012 and 2013. That, as well as other workplace concessions, will help bring down Metro’s operating costs.

“The contract negotiated between ATU and the Executive aligns with the recommendations of the county auditor and the Regional Transit Task Force will help our region build a more sustainable transit system,” Phillips said.

However, the recession is blasting a $1 billion hole in Metro’s budget between 2009 and 2015, and that shortfall cannot be balanced solely on the backs of transit operators.

“They have done their part; now it is time for leaders across the region and state to do ours,” Phillips said. “We must continue finding new ways to make Metro more sustainable, including implementing the recommendations of the auditor and the Regional Transit Task Force. And we must find a new source of stable funding to keep our transit system intact and serving the mobility, economic, and environmental needs of King County.”