What will hurt the poor: higher bus fares

Forget the bag fee as a burden to the poor. What we should really be incensed about is the King County Council’s proposals to raise money for Metro bus service. Their brilliant ideas have included abolishing the ride free zone downtown—widely used by the poor to navigate from one downtown service provider to another—to raising bus fares by 25-cents per year for the next four years. Yes, by 2013, riders would be paying $3 for a one-zone, peak hour trip and $2.75 for a one-zone, off-peak trip. If you live in low-income housing in the cheaper parts of the county outside of Seattle, your fare will be $3.50 for a peak hour trip.

Let’s not kid ourselves. Poor people ride the bus because it’s cheaper than maintaining a clunker that breaks down all the time. It’s cheaper than gas. It’s cheaper than car insurance. It’s cheaper than parking and new tires and radiator fluid and oil changes and new brake pads.

But it’s not so cheap that people don’t feel the sting when fares go up, and they will if the county council passes this insane increase. Council members Julia Patterson, Reagan Dunn, Kathy Lambert, and Pete von Reichbauer need to hear from you:

Julia.patterson@kingcounty.gov or 206-296-1005
Reagan.dunn@kingcounty.gov or 206-296-1009
Kathy.Lambert@kingcounty.gov or 206-296-1003
Pete.vonreichbauer@kingcounty.gov or 206-296-1007

Of course, these are all representatives from conservative, rural and suburban districts on the south and east side of the county. You might also want to contact the other county council members and ask them to out-vote this coterie. Larry Phillips and Dow Constantine, in particular, are so busy running their campaigns for King County Executive that they’re probably not paying close attention to what their colleagues are doing. Visit the king county council website at www.kingcounty.gov/council/Councilmembers.aspx to get the complete contact information for all council members.