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The last time Island Transit asked for a tax increase was in 2003, when my dad went to the Senior Center twice a week. That tax increase request was in response to the devastation to transit budgets all over the state wrought by Tim Eyman and his $30.00 car tab initiative. Island Transit lost more than half its budget in one fell swoop. I did some quick calculating about what it would cost me if the tax increase passed vs what it would cost me if my father could no longer ride the Paratransit bus. The tax increase then was the same as the one that’s being requested now, an increase in sales tax of 0.3%. As the letters say, it will increase the cost of a $10.00 purchase by all of 3 cents. Contrast that with my having to stop work (and yes, that means not getting paid for that time) to drive to my dad’s house, get him into the car, drive to the Senior Center, get him into the center, and then come home and get back to work. Four hours later I can stop what I’m doing, drive to the Senior Center, pick him up, and bring him home. That’s roughly 3 hours out my day twice a week, plus, of course, the gas. Even with minimal pay, that’s a big bite.
I hear the self-made rugged individualists say that bus users should pay. But of course Island Transit long ago did the calculations and came to the conclusion that you simply could not charge enough in fares to pay for the cost of charging those fares, let along actually running the system. There are lots of obvious costs in charging fares, like for those very pricey coin machines, transfers, extra people to count the money, keep it safe, haul it to the bank, and account for it. But there are more subtle costs as well. The driver waits patiently while confused Mrs Smith fumbles through her purse for the change she knows is down there somewhere. Other passengers wait impatiently to get on, but Mrs Smith is blocking the aisle. Even without Mrs Smith, the time it takes for each passenger to pay the fare, have the driver verify correct payment, and issue transfers, means the schedule has to be stretched. Instead of 1/2 hour from Scatchet Head to Langley, it becomes 40 or 45 minutes. That means either the bus makes fewer runs on the route or the driver is paid for more time. How many nickels and dimes does it take to make up for the extra hour each driver has to work per day, or for the extra drivers who have to be hired?
Then the naysayers complain that the buses run half empty or worse much of the time. Yes, its true. One of the things about a service is that it is available, whether people take advantage of it or not. I know the bus will be at my corner at a certain time, whether other people choose to ride or not. One way to improve ridership, thus making each passenger mile cost less, is to get out of your great big SUV and ride the bus. The more riders, the lower cost per rider. Oh, but its so inconvenient, they whine. Yes, it is. The system can’t afford to run more buses just for you to sit in lonely splendor - but the more people who ride the bus, the greater the demand, the more buses will be run. Yes, its true that there is no evening or Saturday service on a lot of routes, and no Sunday service at all. The solution? Let Island Transit know which routes you would like to use and at what times, and your request will be included when considering scheduling changes.
Consider a cost comparison: how much does it cost WSDOT to build a lane-mile of highway? And how much does it cost to run a bus on that route so the lane-mile is not necessary? You can run a whole lot of buses for a whole lot of years for the cost of building that single lane-mile, which is well over $1 million nowadays.
The conclusion? 3 cents per $10.00 of shopping is a whopping good deal for all of us.
