It’s not exactly shocking, since these sorts of stats have been coming out for a while. But it is good news. King County announced a report yesterday showing that per capita gas consumption and vehicle miles traveled in the county have been on the decline since 1999, continuing its drop last year. Even more impressive, total vehicle miles traveled dropped in 2006 and 2007 (that’s as recent as the data gets there), despite population gains in the county. And, of course, more people are taking the bus. Except that we’re going to cut our bus service because our tax structure is such a mess. (Here’s a look at scenarios for the cuts.) Similarly, a seemingly successful bike commute program might be on the chopping block. So much for saving the environment–we need to save ourselves from ourselves.