The victory for homeless and very low-income transit riders is a reminder of the importance of grassroots organizing.
Last year, organizations in King County provided more than 1.4 million Metro tickets to homeless people, refugees, and other low-income people struggling to afford trips to shelters, job centers, and other crucial resources.
Metro's Human Services Ticket Program, which partially subsidizes tickets for human services agencies to distribute, launched 25 years ago after ongoing public demonstrations by the agencies and their clients. And in September, ongoing organizing once again motivated King County Council to unanimously move to strengthen the program.
Katie Wilson of Seattle's Transit Riders Union explains in the Seattle Transit Blog that rising housing costs and homelessness rates have drastically increased the need for tickets. But a cap on allocations has limited the number of tickets available, and fare increases have made even the discounted price too much for some organizations.
The problem may have continued to get worse, Wilson writes, if not for a dedicated grassroots effort to get the Council to address it. Now, Metro will raise the cap on ticket allocations and cut the price of tickets in half, as well as collaborate with other county stakeholders to fulfill "transit’s role in contributing to the social safety net for the lowest income residents."
In addition to more comprehensive local measures, Wilson turns an eye to big-picture solutions like taking on the State Legislature and integrating the region's transit system—noting:
Many of the hundreds of low-income people who have participated in struggles for affordable transit would love to take on these broader transformative issues, if only they didn’t have to be more immediately concerned about getting from A to B.
FULL STORY: Big Wins for Very Low-Income and Homeless Transit Riders
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
Brightline West Breaks Ground
The high-speed rail line will link Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.
Colorado Bans No-Fault Evictions
In most cases, landlords must provide a just cause for evicting tenants.
Alaska Village Becomes Test Case for Climate Change Relocation
The Yup’ik village of Newtok is the first Alaska community to begin a full-scale relocation necessitated by the impacts of climate change. Another 31 Alaska communities remain vulnerable.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.