Late this summer there was talk of a November 25-cent fare increase, to be followed by another quarter in 2010. I’ve been holding off on ordering my November pass until the Council resolved the issue.
As it’s getting late, I sent an email to (STB-approved) King County Councilmember Dow Constantine, who had this to say:
There will be a fare increase, but not in November. We are in the budget process right now (through late November) and are scrubbing the Metro budget for further savings. We will probably approve a fare hike in conjunction with the budget. Such an increase would likely take effect some time in early 2009.
So there you go. Feel free to order a pass now.
I can only imagine the confusion if they actually came out now and announced a fare increase in November. They usually give at least a little notice when they’ve confirmed that stuff.
I like the idea of waiting until after the election to announce a fare increase anyway. Even though Metro and ST aren’t the same thing, a lot of voters might not really get that, and raising fares and asking for a tax increase simultaneously might turn some uninformed undecideds off a bit.