Comments on: Higher Metro bus fare now in effect

By: djw

djw — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 09:40:35 +0000

If you're taking the bus every day at peak hours, you'd probably save money with a pass.

By: Mike G

Mike G — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:57:51 +0000

If I drive to work, from North Beach to Downtown, the trip takes ~30 min during rush hour and I have to pay $11 to park (if I get in by 9:00 am). If I ride the bus, the trip is ~45 min (35 if express) and the round trip is $4.50. Financially, the decision is simple.

Timewise, it's worth the extra 30 min because I can read, listen to my iPod, etc. If I need to hop off to pick up groceries for dinner, I get a transfer.

By: Mike G

Mike G — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:55:22 +0000

Oh my… you want your employer to pay you to not only work, but also to show up at work? Wow.

By: SPG

SPG — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:17:49 +0000

Personally I work from home and then on different locations that typically aren't accessible by Metro.
I used to work at a place that had a couple of parking spots and when they lost the spots I have to admit it was a small contributing factor to me leaving that company. I've also lived in NYC where a car is nothing but a liability. A good transit system can beat a car in terms of speed, comfort, cost, in a lot of places around the world, but we're just not there yet in Seattle. Metro beats the car in terms of real cost, but falls short in many of the other criteria. Seattle isn't yet the city that you can live in easily without a car for all the neighborhoods, but if you choose where you live wisely you can do it and eliminate the hassles of car ownership. Of course you trade some of that for the hassles of Metro, but depending on your lifestyle it can be done.

By: SPG

SPG — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:57:21 +0000

Yeah, it's all relative of course, and I don't take the bus that much nor do I regularly commute since I have a home office. It's just that you can't really just compare metro vs car on the price of gas alone. Cars are expensive transport when you factor in all the real costs and outrageously expensive when you factor in the greater costs like roads, accidents, and wars for oil.
You make a decent point about the experience of riding metro and the opportunity costs for your time, but like they say…your mileage may vary.

By: Alysse

Alysse — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 05:56:01 +0000

Herder,

You are not including all the costs of driving to work (insurance, maintenance, and other things too). When we gave up our car, we actually saw what it was costing us. I work in the U district, so I would have to pay to park. I walk to the 48 bus 4 blocks on 85th. When I drove to work, it took about the same amount of time as driving, by the time I got to the parking lot, walked to work, it was maybe 5 minutes less by car. But I can read on the bus and if I were so disposed I could text on a cell phone.

By: Idle Activist

Idle Activist — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 05:14:59 +0000

Well, I guess those expenses aren't that high for me, plus the 1 1/2 hrs extra I get to spend every day with my kids and family are worth every penny.

By: NoraBell

NoraBell — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:34:26 +0000

So Bartells isn't selling the Orca passes? I was kinda counting on that.

By: ethel

ethel — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:07:53 +0000

I am not saying the fares have tracked inflation directly (they've stagnated and then jumped a bunch), but over the long haul, I do believe it costs less to take the bus today than it did decades ago.

By: ballardissmallilikeanonymity

ballardissmallilikeanonymity — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:38:48 +0000

Ethel, when I moved to Seattle just over 3 years ago, fares were 75 cents cheaper — $1.25 off-peak (37.5% less) and $1.50 peak (33.3% less). I'm pretty certain there hasn't been 37.5% inflation in the last 3 years!!

(BTW, a Seattle P-I article from 2006 that I just pulled up said that Ron Sims planned to space out a 75-cent increase over 10 years. Huge difference from 3 years.)

By: ballardissmallilikeanonymity

ballardissmallilikeanonymity — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:29:01 +0000

I don't have many positive things to say about Metro, but I've had pretty positive experiences with the ORCA system. And once the majority of people are using it rather than cash, I truly expect to see some improvement in travel times (frankly, I think paper transfers should be eliminated altogether and the ORCA fare should be discounted to encourage usage).

Get your ORCA online. It's really quite easy and expedient, and remains completely free through this month. I don't know if there's any way to do this for the youth pass, though.

By: SPG

SPG — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:15:41 +0000

Sure, that's a reality sometimes, and I mostly drive where I need to go, but consider the flipside:
Spend thousands on a car.
Spend more thousands on insurance.
Buy gas.
Pay for repairs.
Pay more than $2.25 to park anywhere downtown.

Yes please!

By: ethel

ethel — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:11:37 +0000

Check inflation rates — as far as I can tell, the bus still costs less these days in real dollars than back when the fare was fifty cents.

By: squeakywheel

squeakywheel — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:53:18 +0000

I just wish I could buy an Orca card where I used to buy bus passes. There is not one single place in North Seattle or Shoreline to get one. And for a youth pass, I have to have my kid with me and proof of age or mail it in. So I got my kid a roll of quarters instead for now.

By: Herder

Herder — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:49:58 +0000

With all due respect I disagree with you Alysse; $4.50 to get to and from work is not cheaper than taking your car, unless you pay to park. A gallon of gas is $2.75 and will get you to town and back cheaper than the bus including car insurance!

How can we entice people to use public transport when it costs more than driving their own car? Why stand and wait for a bus that is either early or late when you can sit in your own car, in traffic, and be home faster than a crowded bus you have stand on – after it arrives?

Personally I cycle a bike.

By: Alysse

Alysse — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:24:18 +0000

This “should” work for current fare info:
http://metro.kingcounty.gov/tops/bus/fare/fare-...

By: Alysse

Alysse — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:19:12 +0000

It is still a bargain compared with the cost of a car to do the same commute (consider petrol, maintenance, insurance, licensing, parking). There is also the cost to society of maintaining the roadways which is not entirely bourne by petrol taxes.

I ride the bus to and from my job near the UW, so the price increase hurts, but it is still cheaper than driving to and from each day. When we got rid of our car in September, we thought we would miss it a lot. So far only a little.

By: NoraBell

NoraBell — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:46:28 +0000

Yup. And it'll still take just as long to get there. Your bus riding min wager (and I don't know many who aren't) will have to still be up and out at the crack of dawn and barely back home by prime time.
Metro keeps raising the rate for budgetary reasons but they do little to ensure those that don't have to ride the bus will want to ride the bus.

By: NoraBell

NoraBell — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:36:38 +0000

I don't think it's the Swedes. Links suck on the new King County site. I run into quite a few error messages since Metro was consolidated onto a general King County web page. To see the new fare click on the link again, go 'home' to 'transportation' to 'fares.'

By: dij

dij — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:58:30 +0000

Yes – my work!

By: ballardissmallilikeanonymity

ballardissmallilikeanonymity — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:52:44 +0000

Underreported irony here: Sound Transit's fares have NOT risen, proving once again that the amount you pay and the quality of service you receive are not necessarily linked.

The light rail, in addition to being infinitely cleaner, faster, and more pleasant than Metro, is now CHEAPER THAN METRO AT ALL TIMES as far as Beacon Hill and CHEAPER AT RUSH HOUR for the entire length of the line.

Note that ORCA can still be used for transfers between all systems. So you're unlikely to pay more than $5 for the above trip ($2.50 if you somehow accomplish it in 2 hours or less).

By: AlonzoNeighbor

AlonzoNeighbor — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:47:41 +0000

Could be just me, but their link does not work.

By: Idle Activist

Idle Activist — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:09:05 +0000

So you want someone else to pay your fare?

By: dij

dij — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:07:26 +0000

What a ripoff.

Why is the state's minimum wage staying at $8.50/hr., yet the bus fare continues to increase?

A normal 9-5 worker who takes the bus to work everyday will spend over $1000/yr. on bus fare.

By: Name

Name — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:45:34 +0000

So, if someone needs to go from Ballard to Sea Tac, then over to Bellevue and back to Ballard, that will be how much?

Metro 2.25 to DT
Light Rail to airport 2.75
ST to Bellevue 2,.50

then, back to ballard
St to DT 2.50
Metro to ballard 2.75

total: 12.75

By: Idle Activist

Idle Activist — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:39:00 +0000

Let's see, $2.25 to take twice as long to get downtown, sit with lonely middle aged women talking about their cats and latest medical problems, and bums using the free ride zone downtown as a doper's get-about-bus?

No thanks.