Everett Transit Forced to Make Tough Choices on Fares, Service

Everett Transit is considering service cuts and fare increases in the face of "growing service costs, meager tax revenue growth, stagnant ridership, and expensive capital outlays," reports Stephen Fesler.

Everett Transit is pitching the plan as a "sustainable growth network," which "could eventually grow into a robust and well-used frequent transit network." The details of the service cuts are included in its recently released six-year transit development plan.

Fesler also notes that fare increases likely won't solve what is "fundamentally a tax revenue problem." Fesler's assessment of the service cuts and fare increases: "While the planners at Everett Transit have tried to develop a responsible plan given the numerous financial and legacy problems plaguing the transit agency, it doesn’t have to be this way."