Wow: was just the LONE "No" vote on legislation lowering fares for low-income people on Sounder trains. Here's the bill that 15 of her board colleagues just approved. soundtransit.org/st_sharepoint/
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Durkan did not give a reason for her vote; I've reached out to her office to find out more.
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No one, as far as I'm aware, has proposed making fares on Sounder commuter trains free (nor is this something that has come up formally for Sound Transit Link Light Rail or Express buses, again as far as I can recall.)
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Durkan did vote to increase some fares, and to decrease some but not all low-income, senior, and child fares on the far more widely used express bus system in 2018. soundtransit.org/st_sharepoint/
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If she did indeed vote against reducing fares because she thought only free fares are fair, that's inconsistent with her earlier vote, which has more consequence for the average rider (not sure many kids are taking the 6:15 commuter from Everett to King Street).
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Specifically, the earlier vote raised regular fares for Sounder commutes across a single county, lowered them for two-county (longer) commutes, and either lowered low-income, youth, and senior fares or kept them the same.
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I'll be honest, I keep thinking about this vote and can't make it square with Durkan's past votes for broader fare adjustments or her vote today to adopt the watered-down fare enforcement update on the grounds that it's a step in the right direction
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Update: The mayor's office says that the difference is that there's clearly the political will to make some fares free now, as opposed to April 2018, as evidenced by Seattle funding free ORCA cards for students and some SHA housing residents.
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Giving folks cheaper fares now doesn't preclude making them free in the future. Very odd
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