We’re joining the lawsuit against Initiative 976. Along with the disability rights group Washington ADAPT and the Northwest-based clean energy economy nonprofit Climate Solutions, Seattle Transit Riders Union (TRU) is intervening in the suit that was filed on November 13th by the Garfield County Transportation Authority, King County, the City of Seattle, and other plaintiffs.
Transit riders, especially those of us who depend on public transit every day, have everything to lose if this measure is allowed to stand. The impacts to our quality of life will be drastic and unacceptable. Our voices need to be heard in this case.
“I heard about I-976 on election night, and my heart fell,” says Naomi Adele, who cannot drive due to a disability and also can’t afford a car. “I regularly take the 7, the 106, the 45, the 48, and the 373. I use many other routes, too. I’m scared for what the future looks like for me, and for other people even more vulnerable and disenfranchised than I am. For some people, reliable public transit is the difference between a job and homelessness.”
In 2015, we fought alongside the courageous students at Rainier Beach High School (RBHS) who led the campaign to win free ORCA transit passes for low-income high school students. Last year Mayor Jenny Durkan expanded this program to include all high school students, many middle school students, Seattle Promise Scholars, and 1,500 residents of low-income housing. All these people could lose their reliable access to transit and the freedom and opportunity that comes with it.
“With my ORCA card I am able to get to all the places I need to be for free,” says Nathan Villar, an 11th grade student at RBHS. “It saves me about $5 a day and I usually spend that on food that I wouldn’t be able to afford without my ORCA card.”
“Our students organized and fought hard to win these free ORCA passes and this program has been celebrated as highly successful by city officials, students, staff and families,” says Chelsea Gallegos, the School Social Worker at RBHS. “To lose ORCA passes for students over a funding gap would be demoralizing and yet another burden placed on our students who are already furthest from educational justice due to systemic inequities within the public school system.”
King County reports that I-976 could result in $12.2 million in cuts to the Access paratransit program, which serves people with disabilities who find it difficult to use King County Metro’s fixed-route buses.
