Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) resists reconsidering its unfair fare hike; a new advocacy group, the Whatcom Transit Riders United (WTRU) wants to pressure it to do so.
by Preston L. Schiller
A little recap may be necessary in regards to this ongoing issue;
- In the fall of 2025, WTA announced that it was planning to double (or more) its fares,
- Generally, when transit agencies increase fares, even by a small amount, they lose ridership,
- Previous fare increases (an increase of $0.25 to $1.00 in 2008 and eliminating transfers in 2010 — which meant that each leg of a trip now cost an additional $1.00) led to significant losses in ridership according to WTA’s annual reports,
- WTA is only slowly regaining the ridership it lost during the Covid pandemic; it is still far from its pre-Covid ridership level,
- WTA’s board is nominated by various Whatcom County jurisdictions; it is not directly elected, and is, therefore, difficult to hold accountable for its decisions,
- The WTA board generally does whatever WTA staff recommends,
- The overwhelming amount (~90 percent) of tax funds collected by WTA are generated within Bellingham,
- The overwhelming percentage (~90 percent) of its riders are within Bellingham,
- Approximately 40 percent of WTA riders are WWU students and there is a significant percentage of BTC and WCC students who are WTA riders,
- Bellingham, and those parts of Whatcom County which are mostly part of Bellingham, are overwhelmingly underrepresented or are misrepresented on WTA’s board,
- The huge turnout and comments submissions of students and disabled persons advocates for the December WTA fare hike hearing (900-plus comments) and board meetings (200- plus) led to a Whatcom Watch article critique of WTA and its fare policies (https://whatcomwatch.org/index.php/article/whatcom-transportation-authoritys-unfair-fare-hikes/) as well as the formation of a transit riders group,
- The transit advocacy group, Whatcom Transit Riders United (WTRU) was formed to react to, and hopefully reverse, the irresponsible huge fair hike instituted by the WTA board,
- The letter and comments to the WTA board at its July 15 meeting submitted (see above) by WWU student Isaac Brandt on behalf of the WTRU were not even mentioned or noted at its August board meeting,
- The issue of having transit rider representation on transit boards was championed by WA Rep. Joe Timmons (way to go Joe,!) and passed into law as House Bill 1418, which allows Public Transit Benefit Areas the option to add two voting members who use transit services to their governing boards. Although it was on the agenda of the Aug. 6 extended WTA board meeting, there was no serious discussion of it and any action was deferred to its upcoming October meeting.
- If you care are about this unfair fare hike, please make your concerns known to WTA and please communicate with us at the e-address for the Whatcom Transit Riders United: Isaacbrandt1@gmail.com.
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Preston L. Schiller, Ph.D., has been a frequent contributor to Whatcom Watch since 1997, especially on issues related to transportation and the environment. He has taught courses in transportation planning at Western Washington University, Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) and the University of Washington, Seattle. In the 1990s, he did the research and planning that led to the express routes linking Bellingham. Mount Vernon and Everett. He is the author of “An Introduction to Sustainable Transportation: Policy, Planning and Implementation, 2nd Ed.,” 2018.
