Comments

1

Shorter: tax payers should pay for UW employees transit costs.

Fuck that.

2

Did they raise the price of the employee UPass? I could have sworn it was $54 per quarter, even for employees, back in 2016. Then again, I was a recently-graduated student working in a student position, so maybe I got the student rate? $50/month is half of the $99/month pass that works for trips $2.75 and under, so the school is paying for at least half of it.

3

It's because they are a state agency. It's the same reason the admin staff (accountants, HR, purchasing, IT) make 20% less than their Seattle/KC counterparts. With the notable exception of State Patrol and Ferries, state workers must make the same whether you live in Seattle or Omak.

4

The UW should consider expanding out of the city all together. Seattle is very rapidly approaching it's saturation point as far as population is concerned. There ought to be some consideration to reducing population density; overcrowding is bad for everyone.

6

Is the cost of a transit pass the main deterrence for using public transit? Its far cheaper than owning a car.

7

State of Washington has provided ORCA cards free of charge for all employees based in King County for the last 2 years. Going forward, will be King, Snohomish and Pierce. But UW operate independently.

8

@7 They're not free. Subsidized yes, but not free.

9

According to this page (https://facilities.uw.edu/transportation/student-u-pass), the cost is $84/quarter. And it appears that this is regulated by a law (RCW), not just the UW.

10

@9 That's only for students.

11

@2 yeah I think it was raised this year. At least for employees, not sure about students. I want to say it was $25/month when I worked there.

12

Or the employees should pay for their own bus pass.

14

@13 "Are Stranger writers really this stupid?"

You must be new here.

15

"Let’s also remember that the University of Washington is a huge beneficiary of the taxpayer-funded expansion of our regional transit system."

So, the taxpayer-funded university is bad, because it benefits from tax-payer funded light rail, but does not provide taxpayer-funded transit passes? I'm not following the logic here, but it seems like the author's real beef is with taxpayers, not UW.

16

What?!? Transit passes for ALL univ.of.washington employees?

Why, however would they be able to pay for all the ballooning Administrator positions and salaries for which they keep hiring?

17

@9 That's for students. For employees, it's $25 per pay period.

18

@1 - "Shorter: tax payers should pay for UW employees transit costs. Fuck that."

Why should tax payers pay for ever increasing Administrator positions, while Professors barely receive tenure, and grad-students are press-ganged into more and more professorial teaching work?

Transit passes are a drop in the bucket compared to the rampant and well-documented corporatization of our public universities.

Why aren't you up in arms about that colossal waste of money?

19

Alice...Jessie...Katie: there are individuals that value the independence and control offered by cars that no amount of money will change. You all fail to understand that some people are willing to pay that price.

20

"corporatization of our public universities."

Is that what you call it when state employees in state run institution led by state employee unions working hand in hand with state politicians to protect their interests, hire their friends to generally do fuck all but blah blah blah about "equity and diversity"?

21

18

LMFAO....you Marxists are like a broken record.

but hey, nice attempt at connecting to unrelated topics.

and gotta love the "its only a drop in the bucket".....idiot.

22

If UW cared, they would divest from fossil fuels and invest that money in renewables. Which the are not doing.

23

This article deeply misguided. To imply UW does not care about climate change because of not providing passes to employees is wrong on many fronts. First of all, UW is a POWERHOUSE in climate and environmental research, policy, education etc. Secondly, all UW students have passes that work as ORCA cards...that's 40,000 people who may not otherwise have them. Third, UW has been a critical partner of Sound Transit and played a major role in the develop of Link, its route, and its stations (particularly the station by Husky Stadium). I'm all for more people having ORCA cards and U Passes but we aren't gonna get their by making bizarre nonsensical arguments against the wrong organizations.

24

Unions only care about bus pass because of Janus. Our contract is garbage, wages suck, union reps suck. Haven’t seen a single rep, except when hired. They don’t come to work, don’t email, don’t care and won’t represent you when needed.

25

@21 -

http://theconversation.com/collegiality-is-dead-in-the-new-corporatised-university-5539

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2008/12/higher-ed.aspx

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-corporatization-of-higher-education

etc.

26

@4- You are aware of the Bothell and Tacoma campuses, no?

27

To pretend that riding the Metro bus does anything to actually combat climate change is to live in a fantasy world where the entire world economy doesn't run on fossil fuels and won't for the next 20-50 years regardless of a 100% clean energy invention tomorrow.
A regressive carbon tax will do nothing to alter global climate change but it would increase world food prices causing thousands or millions of people in poverty to starve to death.
The best way to fight climate change is for responsible use of carbon, meaning transporting oil via pipeline instead of rail. But these days anti-everything is the mantra. If we have a strong economy, energy independence and don't tax the poor, then we will see the technological innovation we need to actually end our dependence on oil. Otherwise you are simply increasing the cost of grandma and grandpa to heat their house this winter and patting yourself on the back.

28

21

18's comment is spot on. When was the last time you attended and/or worked at a university?


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