4 ms·
On my first visit to Seattle, you could ride the bus anywhere downtown for free. It seemed like a great way to provide mobility to those in need, while still ha
by newmac 7y ago
On my first visit to Seattle, you could ride the bus anywhere downtown for free. It seemed like a great way to provide mobility to those in need, while still having a paid option for those in the outer areas of the city to get home to their suburbs.
The first conversation I had with someone on the bus there was with someone going to an employment counselling office. Not sure why that struck me, but it always stuck with me.
No I see that the free ride zone has been gone since 2012. Too bad!
- Pfhreak 7y agoI think it was a logistical nightmare, because you had to pay your fare entering before the free ride zone, and exiting leaving the free ride zone. Unless you were transferring. And not all lines ran through it. I wish we'd gone the other way and just made the whole thing free ride.
- reaperducer 7y agoIIRC, the reason Seattle instituted the free fares downtown scheme was to reduce bus boarding times, especially in the tunnel beneath downtown where buses would often get backed up. /No longer live in Seattle, so I may not be remembering this correctly.
- tzs 7y agoThe free ride zone predated the tunnel by 17 years. The original reason for it was to entice people to use the bus. From the 1973-09-09 NY Times [1]: > “I make a flat prediction,” said Mayor Wes Uhlman, who conceived the plan. “With the E.P.A. [Environmental Protection Agency] breathing down the neck of all of us, every major city in the country will be providing free transit within two years. > “The downtowns are becoming congested and polluted, and we simply have to reclaim them for people away from the automobile.” [1] https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/09/archives/seattle-joining-movement-for-free-bus-rides-10-increase-in-riders.html https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/09/archives/seattle-joining-...