He may be totally wrong on nearly every important issue, but at least King County Council member Reagan Dunn has a sense of humor about it. As the council members arrived for today’s meeting, I asked Joe McDermott if there had been any effort on the council to save the downtown Ride Free Area. McDermott paused, presumably to formulate a politic answer, giving Dunn the opportunity to chime in: “I might try to save it.“
Ha-ha.
Of course, Dunn couldn’t give a shit about the Ride Free Area, but since eliminating it is key to securing the votes necessary to pass the $20 congestion reduction fee that’s coming before the council today, saving it would be tantamount to killing the compromise, and thus the fee. So Dunn was making a little joke at the expense of all Metro bus riders, not just those in Seattle. Funny guy.
” all Metro bus riders”
All or just the hobos and crack heads?
Cynical ploy or no, I’d sort of root for him in this, because I’d rather see Metro and Sound Transit defunded and decommissioned altogether than see it continue without a ride free area.
Didn’t the downtown business associating used to reimburse Metro for the RFA? Is it possible the money to sustain the RFA just isn’t there anymore and this initiative was as good as time as any to make some needed changes?
@2, really? Scorched-earth policy?
@4 I know, right?
What a maroon.
bloo bloo bloo my pussy hurts
@ 2: I think you’re going to need a bigger moat.
Most people I know are glad its going away, should be fewer thugs and freaks who abuse the ride free zone.
Next up, taggers.
Nothing in life is free.
@9: “abuse” it how? like, by using it, but while being a “thug” or a “freak”?
Hey, maybe we should get rid of the free libraries and free public parks, too! Who wants all that riff raff around?
Republicans defending a government freebie; Democrats wanting yet another regressive tax.
Moderates? Enjoying low taxes.
@12,
By getting on at one stop and getting off at the very next, while being perfectly able to walk the two blocks.
Also, by getting on downtown and refusing to pay outside the free ride zone. The most frustrating part of that scam is when the free riders search their pockets for several precious minutes until the bus driver lets them go without collecting the fare.
@15: now i know that i must be a thug and a freak, because i do that in the bus tunnel all the time. the get on & off scam, not the searching-my-pockets-after-the-ride-free-area scam…
Time for Seattle to start voting down all King County measures that subsidize the suburbs and use Seattle tax dollars to do so, if this happens.
Yeah, we pay for your parks and libraries, suburbanites. Seattle. Not you. Slackers.
@16,
I wouldn’t call the former a “scam,” but I do think it’s absurd given how close the above ground stops are. And I wasn’t talking about getting off and on in the bus tunnel.
@ 13: I think you are going to need a bigger goat.
I think you are right on this issue, but we really should double up the routes, do an $80 tab and make all rides 75 cents even the rfz.
Also move towards a natural gas fleet…
Actually the money involved with the ride free area is not as large as I had thought, since a lot of people are disembarking in fee areas.
So, it’s not a good trade for an egregious tax like the $20 fee.
@20:
$20 is an ‘egregious tax’? is $10? $5? $1?
MOST people getting on the ride free are disembarking in fee areas – that’s why its efficient. collecting fares downtown is going to slow the entire system.
Transit ridership overall will most likely go down without the RFA. A portion of those who take transit to go downtown, having to pay again to get around downtown, will decide transit isn’t worth the effort and cost.
Seattle’s steep hills and constricted I-5 freeway make downtown transit use a must have. Yet, Metro won’t design transit to work like it must. And as for fare skippers, hey, the buses are subsidized about 70% and probably more without the RFA. Seattle is an elitist bastard.
Getting rid of the ride free area would really do a lot to clean up the busses.
There seem to be a lot of youths and bums, downtown who use the ride free zone and don’t really do anything but cause trouble for the police and sully the down town experience for out of town visitors. It’s not like they are going to work or shopping or doing anything to contribute for the city, yet their travel gets subsidized.
Besides, metro is complaining about losing money when they GIVE OUT FREE SERVICE. This should be a no brainer
Also cleaning the trash off the bus would increase readership, bringing more PAYING customers. My GF for example and would rather take a cab than deal with the filth on the bus.
@22, who are these people who need to go to so many places downtown past the two hour transfer period they get for paying for the bus once? All said, our downtown is not that big.
So what are they going to do, drive? Even street parking is more expensive than a couple of bus fares.
RFA primarily benefits tourists, working stiffs who use buses during their lunch breaks, and those poor people who use social services and live downtown.
You think the loss of RFA is going to inspire tourists to pay $30/day to park a rental car at their hotel? You think the loss of RFA is going to make poor people disappear? You think the loss of RFA is going to cause people working downtown to *drive* to Salumi for lunch?
Get real.