Bus Fare Ups and Downs coming March 1

Starting March 1 every category of King County Metro fare (and Streetcar and Light Rail) is rising by $.25, bring the total one-way peak-time one zone ticket to $2.75. If you travel between zones, your peak fare is now $3.25. 

It’s the fifth fare increase in 7 years, and makes Metro one of the highest bus fares in the country.

The 2013 median individual income in King County is  $28,155, which mean that if the median individual rides the bus to and from work every day on their own dime, they are spending $1,430 on bus fare annually - 5% of their total yearly income. 

Some relief is coming to the lowest-income residents of our community. March 1 also marks the roll out of the much-anticipate Low Income Fare which provides qualified individuals an ORCA Lift Pass - reducing their fare to $1.50. 

To qualify for ORCA Lift you need to be in a household whose income is below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The program - a hard fought victory for transit justice advocates - is only the second of such in the whole country. 

Metro’s ceiling is $23,470 for a household of one person, or $47,700 for a family of four. Since the program registration opened in February, about 1,000 people have gotten an ORCA LIFT card. Officials think as many as 45,000 to 100,000 transit users may qualify.So if we use the mean qualifying users (72,500 people in King County), only 1.4% of eligible people are signed up for this new program. That’s… really low. Proposition 1 sets aside $2 million dollars to raise awareness and enrollment in this program, 

If you are one of the 71,500 people in King County who make less than $23,470 per year - everybody making minimum wage and folks on EBT qualify by a mile - you need to get on board with Lift. 

You can do so at public health locations in the county. Of course, because nothing is every easy for poor folks, many of these locations are only enrolling people at specific times and days. Call ahead to make sure you aren’t wasting your precious time.