No change? No problem: Intercity Transit plans to make bus rides free starting Jan. 1
One year after voters approved a sales tax increase to fund major changes at Thurston County’s public transportation agency, officials at Intercity Transit are proposing to stop collecting fares and make bus rides free starting Jan. 1.
The change would apply to bus service and Dial-A-Lift, a door-to-door service for people with disabilities. Fares now range from $0.50 to $3 depending on who is riding and where they are going.
Those fares net less than 2 percent of IT’s operating revenue. Meanwhile, IT’s fare collection boxes need to be replaced. The agency says it looked at switching to a card-based payment system but most cost at least $1 million to introduce.
It would cost about that for IT to start using ORCA, the payment system used on buses in King and Pierce counties and elsewhere in the region.
“It basically is a wash in terms of what we collect and what we would have to pay for the capital investment and for the operational investment to collect money. Because it costs a lot of money to collect money,” said Ann Freeman-Manzanares, IT’s general manager. “And if at the end it’s pretty much a wash, why are we doing it when we have all these incredible benefits to gain?”
Those include a potential increase in ridership, speeding up service, and attracting businesses to the area with the promise of “free” transit.
In that spirit, IT this week launched The One, a free route designed to get between Olympia and Lacey in 30 minutes. That route is funded mostly by a state grant.
Officials say they anticipated pushback at the idea of giving up a revenue source right after voters agreed to pay more for expanded service. But they say fares will be prepaid in the form of taxes, the same way public schools and libraries are “free” to use. (That’s one reason IT is calling the model “zero-fare,” not “fare-free.”)
IT plans to test out the change for five years. Commuter vans and other IT services would still charge fares.
“If it does not work the way we think, then we can make other decisions,” said Debbie Sullivan, a Tumwater City Council member who leads IT’s board. “We have not committed to this for the end of time. But at least it gives us a time frame to actually see, does it work?”
Thurston County wouldn’t be the first to offer free bus rides. Some smaller systems already operate that way, including Island County’s bus system. Systems similar to IT that are zero-fare are in Missoula, Mont., Chapel Hill, N.C., and Corvallis, Ore., IT materials say.
The coming years could bring other challenges following the passage of Initiative 976, which cut car registration fees that fund transportation projects. Voters approved it in the Nov. 5 election.
IT stands to lose more than $12 million it gets from the state because of the initiative. Services that could see cuts include weekday rides to Pierce County, Dial-a-Lift, The One, and Dash, IT’s only existing free route that travels between the Capitol and the Olympia Farmers Market.
This week, IT joined a lawsuit filed by other transit agencies and local governments in King County to block I-976 from going into effect.
Freeman-Manzanares said the cuts are not expected to affect the fare change. I-976’s effects also are likely years away.
A public hearing on Intercity Transit’s budget and the zero-fare proposal will be at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at IT’s office at 526 Pattison St. SE in Olympia. Its board is scheduled to vote on the change Dec. 4.
