How the Seattle Transit Measure Can Benefit All
Seattle is a city and region with great public transportation. Voters continually say yes to funding the system - even when elected leadership is reluctant to or unable to fulfil all those promises. And while compared to owning and operating a car the system is a great deal – you can get from Everett to Tacoma for just $3 – there are major gaps in how the patchwork system of commuter benefits, low-income fares, and other programs function.
To understand how these interact with transit ridership in the Seattle region, the Transit Riders Union surveyed nearly 500 people. The results of this survey, published in this report, paint a picture of patchwork benefits that, despite some drawbacks, manage to boost ridership and quality of life of those who have them. But gaps remain and fixing those will be a key political fight into the future.
The transit benefits landscape
There are two ways people in the Seattle region qualify for reduced or free fares: either they qualify for an ORCA LIFT transit card (more on that later) or their employer provides them with a free or subsidized pass. Access to employer-provided ORCA cards is uneven.
Many employers are small enough to fall below the mandatory threshold of the statewide Commute Trip Reduction program, which requires workplaces with more than 100 people with shifts starting during the morning rush hours to meet certain transportation demand strategies. Locally, this is commonly done through participation in the ORCA Business Passport Program, available to businesses with at least five employees.
https://www.theurbanist.org/op-ed-how-the-seattle-transit-measure-can-benefit-all/