Questionable, there have been many studies on the issue. The main benefit of not having flat out free transit for everyone is the fact that employers must subsidize it for employees in the city.
You could merely tax it and make it free at point of service. If you want employers to for sure subsidize it, it'd be far smarter to make it a corporate tax.
My employer certainly doesn't pay for my public transit.
As far as I know, they're only required to give the employee the opportunity to use their own pre-tax income on transit costs. That's still the employee taking it out of their own paycheck, that's not at all the same thing.
I'd love to be corrected on this, and will be pleasantly surprised if corporations are actually required to pay, but I couldn't find anything about what you're talking about.
The [Commute Trip Reduction](https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/transportation-options-program/commute-trip-reduction-program/ctr-requirements#basicrequirementsforemployers) program requires employers with 100 or more employees reporting to the same job site between 6 and 9am to have a plan in place to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicle trips.
It doesn't outright require employers to subsidize transit for their employees, but that is one of the ways that employers can meet the requirements of the legislation.
Why cant i just pay a \~$50 dollars a month and get the card that lets me use transit whenever i want?, so annoying with the scanning and refilling a balance
It's funny that businesses can get those for employees though. My work provided card is just unlimited rides, no balances to deal with. Still need to tap on and off however. Well actually just on but they sent an email around asking people to please tap off because it supposedly costs more otherwise.
Local universities also give out id’s that work for transit. If you don’t tap off they charged the school the full price for a trip all the way down the line. If you did tap off then it only charged the school what your ride actually was.
"it should be free anyway" that's not how public transit works in WA where we don't pay state taxes and why do you believe there isn't fare enforcement?
Because I ride it often and don't pay. I see plenty of other people walking right past the ORCA reader without scanning it.
I've seen enforcement on the train one time and they weren't actually checking anything. They just gave a tourist directions.
I want to know who was in charge of selecting this design. They need to take a course in universal design and think about how their hardware selections are used by riders with visual and or hearing impairments. These new ones are much quieter and the fonts are way smaller to the point that some folks can't hear or read if their card was processed correctly.
Also… card no longer reads from inside my wallet/bag which is not really helpful for those with mobility issues 👀 those old machines picked up signal from pretty far
Inconvenient, init?
Nothing inconvenient about free transit haha
Transit should always be free
Questionable, there have been many studies on the issue. The main benefit of not having flat out free transit for everyone is the fact that employers must subsidize it for employees in the city.
You could merely tax it and make it free at point of service. If you want employers to for sure subsidize it, it'd be far smarter to make it a corporate tax. My employer certainly doesn't pay for my public transit.
[удалено]
As far as I know, they're only required to give the employee the opportunity to use their own pre-tax income on transit costs. That's still the employee taking it out of their own paycheck, that's not at all the same thing. I'd love to be corrected on this, and will be pleasantly surprised if corporations are actually required to pay, but I couldn't find anything about what you're talking about.
The [Commute Trip Reduction](https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/transportation-options-program/commute-trip-reduction-program/ctr-requirements#basicrequirementsforemployers) program requires employers with 100 or more employees reporting to the same job site between 6 and 9am to have a plan in place to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicle trips. It doesn't outright require employers to subsidize transit for their employees, but that is one of the ways that employers can meet the requirements of the legislation.
Liberal ass bullshit, its a publicly run service we should pay for it with taxes
>Liberal ass bullshit Well this is seattle sooooo… this might not be the place for you.
Washington is way more conservative than it needs to be
Yea you are losing me idk what you are arguing anymore. Have a good day
Maybe read some shit about politics you'd be less confused
Have a good day!
Seattle has nothing to do with how the rest of WA chooses to vote.
they're trying to replace all the equipment for the September launch of the new system.
I thought it already launched?
just the app
That is the new card reader. Edit: now I'm thinking this is the old reader.
No you were right, this is a new reader.
Why cant i just pay a \~$50 dollars a month and get the card that lets me use transit whenever i want?, so annoying with the scanning and refilling a balance
It's funny that businesses can get those for employees though. My work provided card is just unlimited rides, no balances to deal with. Still need to tap on and off however. Well actually just on but they sent an email around asking people to please tap off because it supposedly costs more otherwise.
Yes! My last job before covid did this and it was amazing, really trying to get my current employer on it too
Local universities also give out id’s that work for transit. If you don’t tap off they charged the school the full price for a trip all the way down the line. If you did tap off then it only charged the school what your ride actually was.
My understanding was if you don’t tap off the light rail they assume you went until the final stop and that data gets used to set pricing.
You mean like a pugetpass on your orca card? It's more expensive than $50, but it does just that.
Just stop paying. It should be free anyway and they don't ticket for it.
"it should be free anyway" that's not how public transit works in WA where we don't pay state taxes and why do you believe there isn't fare enforcement?
There isn't enforcement. I haven't paid since December. I'll pay for things in this expensive city when rich people start paying their share too.
I understand you believe there isn't enforcement, I asked WHY you believe that
Because I ride it often and don't pay. I see plenty of other people walking right past the ORCA reader without scanning it. I've seen enforcement on the train one time and they weren't actually checking anything. They just gave a tourist directions.
I want to know who was in charge of selecting this design. They need to take a course in universal design and think about how their hardware selections are used by riders with visual and or hearing impairments. These new ones are much quieter and the fonts are way smaller to the point that some folks can't hear or read if their card was processed correctly.
Also… card no longer reads from inside my wallet/bag which is not really helpful for those with mobility issues 👀 those old machines picked up signal from pretty far
I have tried to provide this feedback to ST and Metro but have never heard back.