There is such a thing as a free bus, and we should all take it in 2020

Intercity Transit conducted a public outreach campaign that drew more than 10,000 comments from local citizens. Commenters gave IT a clear mandate to engage in “transformational” change.

IT is taking that mandate very seriously.

Those 10,000 comments said that people want everything: more routes, faster and more frequent service, buses that run at all hours, more incentives to ride the bus, better commuter service to Pierce County, and more convenient fare options.

With the help of a 2018 ballot measure that increased its revenue, IT is already tackling that to-do list. It’s been buying new buses, and increasing routes, bus frequency and hours of service. It’s created “The One,” a free cross-town express route from Capital Mall to Lacey. It’s building new facilities.

And in case all that wasn’t transformational enough, IT’s board is about to vote to end bus fare altogether.

Starting Jan. 1, we will be able to hop on a bus without thinking about whether we have the right change or a monthly bus pass, or without worrying whether we will have enough money to afford bus fare the week before payday.

The free fare will be a five-year experiment, but they are pretty confident that it’s going to succeed and become permanent. So are we.

Bus fare is a much smaller portion of IT’s budget – 1.5 percent – than most people imagine. And collecting the fare may actually cost more than the fares taken in. Today’s fare boxes are so old IT can only buy them on eBay, and buying newer, higher-tech ones would be a huge investment. Joining the regional ORCA card system is also expensive, and that 10-year-old system is preparing to switch to a newer, even higher-tech system.

So very soon our buses will have no fare boxes at all. Given the increasing – and annoying – speed with which all new tech becomes obsolete tech, it’s kind of thrilling to think of solving a problem by opting out of tech altogether.

We look forward to seeing how much ridership will increase because of the combination of expanded service and the no-fare policy.

Those changes will be a godsend for our area’s low-wage workers, for people with disabilities, for older people who no longer drive, and for people who are homeless.

Expanded, free bus service is a significant widening of economic opportunity for all willing workers who don’t drive, and a boon to employers who will now have access to more job applicants and employees.

And here’s something you may not know if you’re not a bus rider: People who are homeless ride buses to warm up in the winter. There are cold-weather shelters for a limited number of people at night, but they typically close at 7 a.m., leaving people on their own all day. So making buses free is also an important humanitarian measure.

IT also anticipates that expanding service and eliminating bus fare will increase ridership enough to reduce traffic congestion. To succeed, it’s hoped that more middle-class people will get on the bus and leave their cars at home. We certainly hope this will be so, both to reduce congestion and climate change, and to facilitate greater interaction among citizens of different economic classes.

Intercity Transit has a great record in increasing ridership over the last decade, and has been winning national and state awards for outstanding service, efficiency, community involvement, budgeting and customer service for years. We should be grateful for this strong tradition of innovation and excellence.

And we should all ride the bus.