Josh
Cohen. Next City.
Elizabeth
Bauerle is a research scientist at the University of Washington’s medical
center. To get from her home in the north Seattle suburb of Shoreline to her
job on the Seattle campus, she can either drive or take two buses.
Like all
of us, Bauerle weighs cost, convenience and personal values in deciding how
she’ll travel to work. She says the two-bus trip can take as much 20 to 30
minutes longer than driving. That time difference would matter less to Bauerle
if she wasn’t paying for the bus out of pocket, but the cost plus time has her
grabbing the car keys most mornings, joining the roughly 34 percent of University of
Washington employees who drive alone.
Bauerle
is part of a campaign to try and change that equation for employees like
herself. UW Pass or Fail — a new campaign lead by a broad
coalition including university employees, the Seattle Transit Riders Union, 350
Seattle, SEIU Local 925 and others — is pushing the University of Washington to
fully cover the cost of transit passes. Currently, university faculty and staff
can get an unlimited transit pass for $50 a month. Though that’s nearly half
the normal $99 cost for an unlimited monthly regional transit pass, the
campaign argues that as a state employer with tens of thousands of employees,
the University of Washington is lagging behind other state employers, Seattle
universities, hospitals and large companies that provide employees with free
transit passes.
Images and
Research. Zach
Neal.
Image One. Flickr.
Image Two. Google Street Views.
Thank you
for reading.
Editorial Notes.
What would happen if, in a city like Sarnia, a college town, one of 72,000 people, with a newly-diversifying economy and a college that attracts hundreds if not thousands of international students, should provide free transit to all and sundry? While the city would have to forgo certain revenues, there would be some cost savings in the fact that no one would be required to collect, account and audit such revenues. Bear in mind, this system is never profitable, it requires big subsidies every year. What's another thirty percent? That is the big question. And yet the actual benefits, would be inestimable--think of all those foreign students, going home when they have finished school, and telling anyone who would listen about this town in Ontario, Canada, where they have free transit. And they're not going bankrupt, they're actually doing pretty well.
(But if it requires big subsidies, why do they do it at all? - ed.)
There is a distinct possibility that these well-educated. middle-class students would impel some sort of similar program in their own home town or city.
According to the article, there are only a couple of hundred cities in the world doing this sort of thing at the present time. And they're not going bankrupt--they're actually doing pretty well.
One could see ridership tripling, with a resulting increase in simple efficiency. There would be a reduction in overall road traffic, less noise and congestion, less pollution. This would also result in savings due to decreased wear and tear on municipal thoroughfares.
Think of all the folks on social assistance, clients of ODSP who can never go and walk on a beach, because of the prohibitive cost of public transit, and the fact that their ODSP pension is thirty-five to forty percent below the poverty line. And in many cases, the landlord is taking a major proportion of that in rent. The sheer number of people working minimum-wage jobs makes this one kind of a no-brainer, hopefully our city will take a look at it in the interest of reducing inequality, and making this city a more attractive place for that young. sometimes cash-strapped entrepreneurial class that is so important in the diversification of our local economy.
This, is a really interesting idea.
Zach Neal for Wit Ventures.
