Woodinville Planning Commissioners Pat Edmonds and Michael Corning, both Microsoft employees, invited Microsoft real estate and facilities guy Jim Stanton to talk to the Planning Commission about how the company was dealing with transportation issues on the Eastside.

Stanton spoke at the well-attended June 6 meeting. About 50 were present, mostly Microsoft employees who live in the area. He began by giving a brief overview of the company, saying it has roughly 40,000 employees in the area and expects to hire 10-12,000 new employees in the next three years. The company owns 10 million square feet of office space in the region, 8 million of which are on the Redmond campus, which, by the way, is under expansion. The build-out will make the corporate campus one of the largest in the U.S., if not the world, said Stanton.

The company’s employee base is concentrated north of Interstate 90, as well as along the State Route 520 and Interstate 405 corridors. Redmond and Seattle are home to the largest numbers of Microsoft employees. About 7 percent live in the Bothell-Kenmore-Woodinville-area. There is also a high concentration of Microsoft workers around Duvall.

Getting to work is wrought with frustration for many company employees, and Microsoft gets that. A crowded 520, a congested Avondale Road, a blocked-up State Route 202, for example, cause a lot of commute headaches, as do indirect bus routes that cause Microsoft riders to transfer once or twice before arriving at the office.

To tempt commuters out of their cars, the company would like to complement Metro, Sound Transit and Community Transit service with a new express bus service direct to campus, one with a wireless environment onboard so that people can be productive on the road.

Commissioner Edmonds asked how the company would select its direct bus service locations. Stanton said the company hoped to buy a fleet of buses soon after the fiscal year started. As for pickup locations, they were looking for the sweet spot, likely to be an overlay of concentrations of employees and those willing to take transit.

Microsoft also wants to offer financial incentives for those who use carpools, walk or bike to work. And though the company already offers FlexPasses and Puget Passes to its workers, it is considering offering the transit passes to its vendors.

Edmonds said he heard from many who wanted improved bike access from Woodinville to Redmond.

“Do transportation folks talk about this?” he asked.

Stanton said Microsoft was in ongoing discussions with Redmond and King County about widening the river trail. In addition, the company was looking at funding for running a shuttle with a trailer behind it to fit as many bikes on as possible, he said.

It would like to expand telework opportunities and is also considering leasing space for community-based satellite offices. Stanton said they had no satellite locations in mind yet but would prefer locations with 10-12,000 square feet, plus room for growth. They’d need ample parking, a facility that met bandwidth requirements, one that had robust heating and ventilation systems and close-by amenities so that employees could walk to lunch.

About eight Microsoft employees described their commute frustrations. It took one Woodinville man an hour and 10 minutes to get to work.

“I live 10 miles from work,” he said. “That’s egregious.”

He advocated Woodinville be a location for an express service bus.

Another gentleman who lives in the Cottage Lake area complained about the congestion on Avondale Road. He thought direct shuttle service from Cottage Lake and the Redmond Ridge areas would take a lot of people off the road.

One worker said it took him 40 minutes to commute by bike, one hour and 20 minutes to take the bus. Another man who lives one and half blocks from the Woodinville Dairy Queen takes the bus to Redmond. He has to transfer two times, which makes his commute one and three-quarters hours.

“I live near a bus stop on two major highways and I still don’t have good service,” he said.

One woman said five years ago, it took 15 minutes to commute from Woodinville to Redmond. Now, it takes between 45 minutes and an hour some days.

“What are we planning for traffic on SR 202?” she asked. “It’s really hard.”

She wondered what the city intended to do if the City Council increased density from one to four units per acre. The growth would add more cars to an already crowded road system.

Another woman wondered if the Dinner Train could have an expanded use to take commuters to Microsoft in the mornings. She also advocated a five-lane Avondale Road from one end to the other.

Planning Commissioner Corning thought the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) rail corridor would be an ideal light rail corridor. Stanton said he wasn’t aware of the progress of King County’s negotiations with BNSF, but he knew the first effort was to secure the right-of way, then to figure out how the corridor could supplement transportation.

“Our focus is to keep our eye on the ball,” said Stanton, “and hopefully, have a successful ballot this fall.”

He said Microsoft was very supportive of the roads and transit ballot measures that would be before the voters this November. The proposed package, amongst many other things, would extend light rail between Seattle, Bellevue and Redmond. It would replace the 520 bridge, improve I-405 from Bellevue to Renton, fix major chokepoints, and build a Bothell transit center and parking garage, to name only a few components of the $17.7 billion plan.

To pay for the improvements, a sales tax increase of 0.6 of one percent is proposed, as is an $80 tax on every $10,000 worth of value per vehicle. This means, if passed, the typical household would pay an additional sales tax of about $150 a year, and the owner of a vehicle valued at $10,000 would pay an additional $80. “If it doesn’t pass now,” said Stanton, “it’s back to square one.”

Commission Chair Les Rubstello told Stanton, “Our vision for Woodinville is an active, attractive village that people can come to or, even better, live in and work.”

He thanked Stanton for coming and providing information that was useful to the Planning Commission.