Transit Riders partake in a community meal at Westlake Park before heading to the train.
On April 16th, over a hundred transit riders rallied and rode the light rail in celebration of winning our campaign against a two-tier transit system! The day before the event, Metro and Sound Transit announced their short-term fix that will allow very low-income and no-income riders who depend on tickets from social service organizations to ride the light rail:
Starting in June, social service organizations will be able to purchase these “combo-tickets” to distribute to very low-income and homeless riders. Until then, organizations that purchase light rail passes will receive bus tickets for free.
Thank you to everyone who signed our petition and helped us to win this campaign! TRU will continue to push for more tickets to be available to organizations at a lower cost, and for monthly ORCA passes that are affordable and accessible for very low-income and no-income riders. Join us – together we can win!
this is awesome!!!! Thank you for the great work you are doing ! I’m still concerned about the changes happening in seattle’s transit and am thinking that in some ways these changes perpetuate class divisions among us. here is a comment i just posted to the Stranger article on this topic:
26 A u-pass for UW employees is ONLY 44$/month for unlimited rides on metro/LINK. Other major employers offer their employees similar or better public transportation benefits. Are these employers actually paying the city for the bus fares that their employees use??? My guess is that they are not. I am deeply concerned with how it is legitimate for these organizations/companies to parasitize the public transit infrastructure that the city is spending billions of dollars creating while low-income, marginalized and homeless populations are subjected to humiliation and fines from fare enforcement if caught attempting what amounts to essentially the same thing. Why is OK for UW employees to parasitize public transportation but not homeless people??? Shouldn’t we be creating public infrastructure using public funds for those most vulnerable among us such as the disabled and homeless?? Seattle is creating the new transit for the mainstream and the rich and legitimizing their parasitism of it while criminalizing those who can’t afford it (fare enforcement.) This a HUGE change from public transportation 10 years ago and i am surprised how easily people accept it and even celebrate it.