Seattle will provide free transit for some low-income residents
Back in June, Seattle officially launched the “ORCA Opportunity” program with free bus passes for Seattle public high schoolers and some Seattle Colleges students. This year, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced in her State of the City address Tuesday, the program will be expanded to some of the lowest-income Seattle residents living in Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) properties.
ORCA Opportunity uses existing Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD) funds, which come from a voter-approved sales-tax increase and car-tab fee and pay for expanded transit service in and around Seattle. The program directs some of that money toward free, year-round ORCA bus passes, valid on most area public transit agencies. So far, about 14,500 high schoolers and Seattle Promise scholars have participated in the program, according to the mayor’s office.
The expansion will add capacity for 1,500 SHA residents between ages 19 and 64 who make under 30 percent area median income (AMI)—as of 2018, 30 percent AMI is $2,050 a year for a single person or $30,100 for a family of four—that live within the benefit district.
SHA spokesperson Kerry Coughlin told us over the phone that while city funds are limited, the 1,500 figure is about “parallel” to those eligible: “We think that’s about who will fall into these categories.”
https://seattle.curbed.com/2019/2/19/18232271/free-transit-low-income-seattle
