The Everett City Council voted Wednesday night to approve a new low-income fare category for Everett Transit, and set the fare at $1.50.
ET Transportation Services Director Tom Hingson presented data from a fare survey that also included the option of not having a low-income fare, and the option of consolidating all reduced fares at $1. He pointed out that frequent riders strongly preferred Option 1 ($1.50 low-income and youth, $0.50 RRFP – for seniors 65+ and riders with qualifying disabilities). Seniors overwhelmingly preferred option 1 over option 2, which would have raised their fares from free just a couple years ago, to 25 cents last year, to 50 cents now, to a dollar in July.
As a result, low-income qualifiers will see the same fare they are paying now, which is 50% more than the regular fare last year. ET’s new LIFT fare will be the same as the ST Express LIFT fare, and 25 cents more than the Community Transit local LIFT fare.
ET’s route 70 (serving Mukilteo and Seaway Transit Center) is the only one designated by ET as a “commuter” route. Its fares are set to match Community Transit’s local fares. CT’s decision to implement a low-income half fare would normally trigger the setting of the low-income fare on route 70 to match it at $1.25, oddly making it lower than the low-income fare on the regular buses.
The fares in the ORCA pod, for those agencies honoring inter-agency transfers and passes, effective July 1, are listed below the fold.
| Agency | Service | Regular | LIFT… | Youth | RRFP.. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everett Transit | commuter (route 70) | $2.50 | $1.25 – TBD | $1.75 | $1.25 |
| Everett Transit | local | $2.00 | $1.50 | $1.50 | $0.50 |
| City of Seattle | Streetcars | $2.25 | $1.50 | $1.50 | $1.00 |
| Community Transit | commuter | $4.25 | $2.00 | $3.00 | $2.00 |
| Community Transit | local | $2.50 | $1.25 | $1.75 | $1.25 |
| King County Ferries | Vashon – ORCA | $5.75 | $4.50 | $4.50 | $3.00 |
| King County Ferries | Vashon – cash | $6.75 | $6.75 | $6.75 | $3.00 |
| King County Ferries | West Seattle – ORCA | $5.00 | $3.75 | $3.75 | $2.50 |
| King County Ferries | West Seattle – cash | $5.75 | $5.75 | $5.75 | $2.50 |
| King County Metro | buses | $2.75 | $1.50 | $1.50 | $1.00 |
| Kitsap Transit | buses, local ferries, eastbound fast ferries |
$2.00 | $1.00 | $1.00 | $1.00 |
| Kitsap Transit | westbound fast ferries | $10.00 | $5.00 | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Pierce Transit | buses | $2.00 | $2.00 | $1.00 | $1.00 |
| Sound Transit | Link Light Rail | $2.25- $3.25 |
$1.50 | $1.50 | $1.00 |
| Sound Transit | Sounder | $3.25- $5.75 |
$2.50- $4.25 |
$2.50- $4.25 |
$1.50- $2.75 |
| Sound Transit | ST Express | $2.75/ $3.75 |
$1.50 | $1.50 | $1.00 |
All fares that change July 1 are bolded.
Washington State Ferries does not accept inter-agency transfers or passes.
The Seattle Center Monorail has been approved to join the ORCA pod, but won’t roll out ORCA acceptance until September, at the earliest.
That table makes my head hurt. It would be nice if each agency adopted just 2 fares – a standard fare and a reduced fare.
The problem with that is for instance, it costs a lot more to run a ferry per passenger than a bus. More staff and more fuel burned.
But yeah, for the regular buses one standard fare would be the way to go. Maybe time AFTER ORCA Next Gen is up and running – there are enough moving pieces and poli-ticks as-is for staff to deal with – we had the state legislature make the entire damn Puget Sound transit ecosystem join ORCA with for buses one set of fares.
That’s my thought cloud.