After 34 years, Portland is eliminating its ride free area due to a massive budget shortfall.

From Portland Mercury reporter (and Stranger alum) Sarah Mirk:

After months of debate and vocal protests from a loose transit riders’ union, the TriMet board…voted 6-1 to eliminate buses from Fareless Square.

“When Fareless Square was started some 34 years ago, it was a bus-only system. We now have four MAX lines that will serve this area once mall service begins,” says Mary Fetsch, TriMet’s spokesperson. While eliminating free bus service from downtown saves only $800,000, TriMet expects to see improvements in bus efficiency and a reduction in bus fare-related evasion. TriMet is counting on this projected savings to help close its $3.5 million budget gap.

Much like Portland, Seattle’s 36-year-old Ride Free Zone could also be in trouble because of money problems at the city and county level.

The city currently pays King County Metro to cover some of the fares in the downtown ride free area, which stretches from Battery Street to S. Jackson Street, between 6th Avenue and the Waterfront. According to King County Metro service development manager Victor Obeso, about 880,000 riders take advantage of the Ride Free Zone annually, which translates to about $1.3 million in unpaid fares every year.

Last year, the city paid King County $380,000 for its share of the ride free area. However, with recent increases in bus fares, the county is projecting that Seattle will owe the county $526,000 for 2009 and several county council members are pushing for the city to pay even more—as much as $6.5 million a year—to cover fares lost in the Ride Free Zone, and help fill part of Metro’s $213 million budget gap.

Obeso says there is no immediate deadline for the city and county to figure out who should be footing the bill for the free rides, but mayoral candidate Mike McGinn seems to think Seattle’s Ride Free Zone is an integral part of the transit system, and should be a priority in order to keep transit running on time.

From Electionland:

[W]e need to prioritize buses on our streets. Things like dedicated bus lanes, traffic signal priority, and peak hour parking restrictions can make buses move more efficiently through our streets, effectively increasing service. Reducing “dwell time” by having multiple doors and pay in advance fare systems also helps. That is one thing the ride free area helps with.

Jonah Spangenthal-Lee: Proving you wrong since 1983.

16 replies on “There Is No Free Ride”

  2. Metro would win the argument if they could prove they weren’t trying to screw their largest ridership base. Good luck with that one, guys!

  7. I say we get rid of the Ride Free Zone in return for getting the 40 percent of Metro Bus Service we in Seattle already pay for.

    And tell the suburbs to sod off.

  8. Mike McGinn never said the free area is priority in keeping transit running on time. Clearly if you read his answer, it says it helps with dwell time. I think you’re reading into his answer. Extensive studies have shown that free ride areas do very little to help with “dwell time” as Mike McGinn refers to it. Most dwell time in Seattle is due to passengers who do not have their fare ready and the loading of passengers via the lift. Slightly behind that is dwell time due to traffic, so if buses had clear shots, like the 358 up and down Aurora, we would improvements. I like his idea for prepaid fares and multiple doors, as long as the doors allow for automatic fare payment.

  9. They still need to make the trains free in the damn tunnel. I just go down and wait for the next vehicle that rolls by and hop on it. I’m not going to run back upstairs to pay and down again if the next transit machine to go by happens to be a train.

  12. Except that it’s not actually $1.3 million in fares. A large volume of the Ride Free Zone ridership is not going to use the bus if they have to pay. You can walk from one end to the other in 20 minutes, and most of the use is between Belltown and Pioneer Square. You won’t be able to generate a significant amount of cash, and the people who will actually suffer are the ones who need that service the most: the elderly, the ill, and the mobility impaired.

    Also, I work with those smelly homeless people. You don’t want to ride the bus with them, fine. Do something about the problem. Support for more public housing would be nice. Or public showers (of which there is currently one, at the Urban Rest Stop). Some of my clients are crazy assholes who shit themselves because they think people will steal their pants or fuck them in the ass if they take them off. Most of them don’t actually like being stinky.

  13. It’s wierd Seattle has $$ for frivolities like the SLUT and the $240,000,000 makover of 6 blocks of Mercer St., but can’t cough up more $$ for the ride-free area.

    Seattle currently pays Metro about $400,000 per year for downtown bus service under a contract signed in 1973 that has since expired. In accordance with this logic, I think I’ll write to City Light and SPU and tell them I’m only willing to pay 1973 rates for electricity and water.

  14. Metro’s smartest move to reduce “dwell time” would be to really push for ORCA adoption by discounting fares and being smart about transfers for ORCA users (sort of like Oyster cards in the London Underground). Collecting fares on the bus during entry or exit is such a huge drag on transit times.

  15. Portland has the right idea. A Central Link ride free zone plus free bus routes like the 99 is where Seattle should be spending their money. Free routes on 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th Avs every 5 minutes would be a better deal.

  16. Seattle needs to dump the FREE Ride Area. Clearly KCM is losing money. The city doesn’t seem to care just keep it running and what ever cost. Oh that’s right the cost is furlough days, cut backs in time and job losses. I see.

    It’s not like the Homeless, and disabled would not be able to ride the bus, they would just have to go get their reduced fare card and get a bus pass for What is it $9.00 a month.

    Remember ORCA Tap once on bus Tap twice on link or you will get a ticket of 124.00 if caught. I seen them write a ticket to someone just the other day.

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