Western Washington University students could see changes next fall to how much they pay for transit in Whatcom County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A $600,000 contract between Western and Whatcom Transportation Authority ensures that students, staff and faculty receive unlimited rides on the bus each year. Students contribute to this through the Active Transportation Fee<\/a> \u2014 a $33 fee assessed quarterly.\u00a0<\/p>\n But WTA General Manager Les Reardanz informed Western leaders on Friday afternoon that the transit authority doesn\u2019t plan to renew the contract when it expires in September 2026. Instead, the WTA has proposed that students become eligible for reduced fares, maxing out at $30 a month. Faculty and staff would purchase regular passes, said Maureen McCarthy, WTA director of communications and government relations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is consistent with how we plan to work with Bellingham Technical College, Northwest Indian College and Whatcom Community College,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n This move is part of a larger proposal to overhaul<\/a> how fares look at the WTA. That includes increasing the fixed route base fare from $1 to $2. Paratransit fares would increase from $1 to $3. The transit system\u2019s monthly \u201cfare cap\u201d will increase from $30 to $60 a month. Under this new system, students would be eligible for reduced fares, meaning they would pay $1 a ride and pay a maximum of $30 a month, no matter how many times they ride.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new fares haven\u2019t been approved yet. The WTA\u2019s Board of Directors will likely vote on the changes at its next meeting on Thursday, Dec. 4.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWTA\u2019s goals with regard to Western are the same as those for our proposed fare changes overall: To make fares simple, consistent and financially sustainable,\u201d McCarthy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The planned nonrenewal of the contract with Western, and the proposal to increase fares, have concerned Western students: dozens joined a virtual public hearing on Monday, Nov. 24 to speak against the proposed change.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStudents are already facing a breadth of basic needs issues from housing insecurity to food insecurity, and having to pay out of pocket for bus passes is unrealistic and unwarranted as well,\u201d said Aspen Cates-Doglio, president of the Associated Students of WWU, at the hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Students expressed a range of concerns: an increase in car usage due to the change, the resulting challenges in finding parking, and the undue burden the change and broader fare increases would have on low-income community members. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGiven that Western students comprise a significant share of the ridership on WTA, this is a huge risk, and I think it should seriously be explored \u2014\u00a0the potential shortfalls and losses of fares and ridership,\u201d said John Hardgrove, the AS WWU Senate president.\u00a0<\/p>\n Joyce Lopes, the vice-president for business and financial affairs at Western, thanked students for sharing their perspectives at the hearing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really are grateful for the partnership with WTA over the years,\u201d Lopes said. \u201c\u2026 Our contract is still in effect through September of 2026, and we look forward to having further conversations with WTA on how we can partner to ensure we\u2019re providing our students with the necessary access at an affordable rate.\u201d<\/p>\n Lopes noted in a statement to CDN that students and employees make up 38% of WTA\u2019s ridership. <\/p>\n The WTA already subsidizes the cost of rides, said Audra Stiles, the grants and revenues manager. One fixed-route ride costs the WTA about $10, and a paratransit ride costs the transit authority nearly $100, Stiles said. Western students end up paying about 40 cents a ride, based on the current model.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhile [fares] are a smaller part of our funding, it\u2019s a necessary part of our funding, and we won\u2019t be able to continue the current service that we provide without it,\u201d Stiles said.<\/p>\n WTA\u2019s fare proposal also includes the elimination of the \u201cGold Card\u201d as is, which provides free transit to community members 75 and older. Instead, several groups would now be eligible for half-price fares: riders 65 and older, people with disabilities, veterans, paratransit-eligible riders, and \u2014 as referenced in the public hearing \u2014 students.\u00a0<\/p>\n One more public hearing on the proposed fare increases will be held at 8 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 4 at 4011 Bakerview Spur in Bellingham, or virtually. Community members can also submit comments on the proposal on this web page<\/a>, by calling 360-676-7433 or by emailing customerservice@ridewta.com.<\/p>\n Charlotte Alden<\/a> is CDN\u2019s general assignment\/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com<\/a>; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Washington University students could see changes next fall to how much they pay for transit in Whatcom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-314202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}