Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels wants city employees to ride the bus to work, and he's proposing giving them free transit passes to make it easier for workers to make the switch.
"Mayor Greg Nickels has proposed giving all city employees free bus passes by 2009 to encourage use of transit as a means for reducing the air pollution that causes global warming.
"This is a great incentive to get people out of their cars and using public transit," City Councilman Nick Licata said.
"This is a great step forward."
If the council approves Nickels' legislation, the city will double its employees' transit pass subsidy next year to $30 per month, more than half the $54 cost of a one-month PugetPass good for $1.50 trips at peak times within one zone.
In 2009 and 2010, the city would cover that pass' cost entirely, even if the rates increase. The program is expected to cost $1.1 million over the next three years; the city has been contributing $15 per month to the cost of its employees' bus passes since 1993.
City Councilman Richard Conlin, chairman of the council's Environment, Emergency Management and Utilities Committee, called the proposal a great investment at a relatively modest cost. "
FULL STORY: Nickels to employees: Take bus
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