Organizing works! The Transit Riders Union along with a strong coalition of organizations and individuals campaigned for a low income fare, and we won! (How do you apply? Find out here.)
This is a great first step, but we’re still a long ways from affordable public transit for all. Bus fares went up yet again on March 1 – now King County Metro is second only to New York City for the highest basic adult fare in the nation. Senior and disabled riders saw their monthly pass cost jump from $27 to $36, and a monthly pass for youth now costs $54.
In fact, the real cost of riding the bus has been rising ever since Metro was founded in 1973! Repeated fare increases are another way of pushing the cost of public transit onto working and poor people, rather than working to change our state’s regressive tax system. So, the Transit Riders Union is continuing to organize and push for affordable public transit for all. Join our Delegation!
Here are some of the things we’re asking for:
Roll back the fare increases: When fares go up, people ride public transit less. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) estimates that a 10% increase in fares leads to a 4% reduction in ridership. That means more cars on the road, as well as more people simply staying home because they have to budget their dollars and quarters every month. With climate change accelerating and gridlock already at unacceptable levels, we should be rewarding people for taking the bus, not making it more expensive!
Free transit for low-income youth: For low-income families, riding the bus with children is a huge expense, especially now that King County Metro’s youth fare rose from $1.25 to $1.50. San Francisco already has a free bus pass program for low and moderate income youth. The Transit Riders Union believes it’s time for King County to do the same.
Free transit for low-income senior and disabled riders, and low-income or disabled veterans: On March 1st, San Francisco’s Muni bus system introduced a free pass for low and moderate income senior and disabled riders. On the same day, King County Metro raised transit costs for these riders by 33%. Since the discontinuation of the $99 Annual Reduced Fare Metro pass in 2010, annual transit costs for senior and disabled riders have increased more than fourfold. For riders on a very small fixed income, this is unacceptable. Let’s do the right thing and let low-income seniors and people with disabilities ride for free.
Free transit for all public school students: Most students who live less than 2.5 miles from their school do not received a subsidized bus pass from the Seattle School District. If they aren’t able to walk every day, or if there’s no safe route to school, they have to pay to ride the bus. At $54 for a monthly youth pass, that adds up quickly for low income families. Free bus passes for all students will mean fewer students truant or late for class.
Affordable transit for college students: Many major transit agencies offer a reduced student fare. It just makes sense: so many college students today are racking up debt and struggling to balance academic classes with low-wage jobs. We’re asking for students at the Seattle Colleges, Bellevue College and community colleges throughout King County to qualify for reduced fare quarterly transit passes at the $1.50 per ride, $54 per month rate.
Keep the Access program affordable: While standard, youth, senior and disabled fares all went up twenty-five cents on March 1st, Access fares went up by fifty cents, from $1.25 to $1.75. Don’t nickel and dime disabled riders!
ORCA LIFT accepted on all Sound Transit services: Currently only Link Light Rail offers a low-income reduced fare. We want the low-income fare to extend to all Sound Transit services, including buses.
Business should contribute: Businesses benefit immensely from public transit. They rely on buses to carry their workers to work and customers to their stores – and to decrease congestion, freeing up the roads for commerce. The city, the county, and Sound Transit’s multi-county district all have the power to tax businesses to help fund public transit – and none of them are using it.
Commit to lowering fares: We believe that King County should make a long-term commitment to finding new progressive, stable funding for public transit so that fares can be lowered in the future rather than raised. Eliminate the 25% farebox recovery target and make lowering fares a high priority in Metro’s long range plan!
More progressive transit funding: We need a massive expansion of public transit to keep up with population growth and to make it possible for people to get out of their cars. But it’s not going to happen if our local elected officials don’t join with us and lobby the state for more progressive funding options such as a Non-Residential Parking Tax, Payroll Tax on employers, and capital gains tax.
I have already signed-up to be a Delegate; My personal ACCESS / ORCA PASS rose from $45
to $63 / per month; Might have to cut-back some of my Volunteer Hours in order to afford my taking ACCESS — transition from a Monthly ACCESS/ORCA PASS to a SENIOR RTRF
PASS. BUT, I do NOT BELIEVE THAT would affect some of my further-flung King County
Meetings; for which I would still need ACCESS, @ $1.75 EACH WAY.
Frankly, I don’t see how TRU has won a victory for inexpensive public transit service at all. I already pay only a $1 right now in reduced bus fare. True, I can’t go lower than that, but the ORCA Lift program is a rip-off at $1.50 per trip for low-income, senior, disabled & student riders. I got my information from one of the flyers I had picked up just prior to the fare increases on the 1st of March. If I haven’t misplaced the flyer, I’ll bring it to one of the membership meetings soon & pass it around. You’ll see what I mean.
Something I would like to see is the re-introduction of paper transfers to agencies that have completely eliminated them, including Pierce Transit, Sound Transit, and Community Transit. I fear this may become a reality in King County Metro, as well. The elimination of the transfer makes it much more expensive for those who don’t have easy access to an ORCA card. The ORCA itself costs $5, and that value is NOT applied to the card itself. Even with that, finding a place that carries them is also difficult. So people who rely on using cash to get around end up having to pay more — and this disproportionately affects lower-income individuals, and the homeless. The transfers on the ORCA itself aren’t typically long enough to be useful when multi-county trips are concerned. When I get on the bus in Lakewood, I often times find myself missing the transfer window in Seattle by less than sixty seconds, forcing me to pay fare yet again. I hope this is something we can get back.