If you’re a low-income rider who currently pays full fare on King County Metro or Link Light Rail, you can look forward to March 1. The low-income fare the Transit Riders Union (TRU) fought for is about to become a reality: With the new ORCA LIFT program, riders with incomes below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines will be able to ride for a reduced fare of $1.50.
OK, so many of us remember way back in 2008 when the standard fare was $1.25. But still, this is great, no? Thank you, King County! After raising bus fares four times during the deepest recession in generations, after taking away our downtown Ride Free Area — now finally, Metro and the county are doing something right!
But wait — hold the rejoicing. Also on March 1, fares are going up yet again for everyone else. The new off-peak adult fare will be $2.50. The youth fare will jump to $1.50, senior and disabled fares will go from 75 cents to $1, and Access Paratransit fares will increase 50 cents to $1.75.
What are we to make of this? Many well-off commuters who can afford the increase may think, “Well, OK, I’m happy to pay a little more...”
But low-income senior and disabled riders are about to see their transportation costs increase by 33 percent. How many will find themselves stuck at home, their mobility and freedom curtailed? And how many low-income youth will miss school or activities because their cost-burdened families can’t afford to get them there and back every day?
Enough is enough. At some point we need to put our collective foot down — and that point is now. That’s why TRU is building a mass delegation of transit riders (yes, you can join) to meet with county councilmembers to reject the fare hikes and lay out concrete steps toward more affordable transit. And we’re not going to let up until we see results.
If King County needs a model, there’s one not far away. Coincidentally, also on March 1, San Francisco will make riding the bus free — yep, you read that right: Free — for all low- and moderate-income seniors and people with disabilities. San Francisco already has a free bus program for low- and moderate-income youth.
Raising standard fares here is a step in the wrong direction.
Metro already has among the highest fares in the nation. Fare hikes cause reductions in ridership. Research suggests a fare increase of 10 percent, say from $2.50 to $2.75, will cause ridership to fall an estimated 3.5 percent.
Climate change is happening. Gridlock is already at unacceptable levels. We should be doing everything possible to increase, not decrease, the use of public transit.
Ultimately, all this boils down to a simple idea: Public transit is a public good, not a business. It should be treated as basic infrastructure, and it should be amply and publicly funded.
Yes, those who can easily afford to pay should pay for public transit — but this should be done through progressive taxes, not user fees like fares. And most important, the tax base should include not only high-income individuals but also the many multimillion- and billion-dollar corporations that reside in Seattle and King County, which profit immensely from the transit system and other public amenities.
It’s true that our state legislature in Olympia hamstrings county and city governments, severely limiting local funding options. But legislators aren’t quite as helpless as they’d like us to think. For example, King County, the City of Seattle and Sound Transit’s multicounty Transportation Benefit District all have the power to levy a modest Employee Hours Tax on businesses to fund public transit. This would generate more than enough revenue to roll back the fare hikes. We could start making strides in the other direction. But it’s not going to happen as long as the business lobby creates the loudest noise our elected representatives hear. It’s time transit riders put our voices, and our votes, together.
Katie Wilson is general secretary of the Transit Riders Union. To learn more about the ORCA LIFT program, including enrollment locations, visit orcalift.com. To join the Transit Riders Delegation and learn more about the campaign against fare hikes, visit transitriders.org.