Issaquah Councilmember Fred Butler is one of 28 regional and community leaders named to a new Regional Transit Task Force that will advise on the future of King County Metro Transit services.

King County Executive Dow Constantine today named his list advisors, which he hopes will develop of a comprehensive vision for what the regional transit system should look like in the future as well as criteria for systematically growing or reducing the transit system, depending on the revenues available.

Butler is well versed in Eastside transportation issues, as a member of the Sound Transit Board of Directors and the King County Regional Transit Committee.

Joining Butler on the task force is City of Bellevue Councilmember Grant Degginger, Christine Hoffman from the Redmond Chamber of Commerce, Transportation Choices Coalition Executive Director Rob Johnson, as well as representatives from Boeing and Microsoft.

“I’ve asked this cross-section of regional leaders and transit users to engage in a discussion about how we can best deliver transit service for all parts of the county within the resources we have,” Constantine said. “I deliberately sought a group of people who are willing to put aside political divisions and think creatively about how to plan a transit system that will serve us well in the future.”

The geographically balanced 28-member task force includes a mix of elected officials and representatives of business, labor, education, and human service agencies, along with riders.

The task force is being asked to develop policy options for discussion by July and to adopt final policy recommendations by September 2010.