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AN ORDINANCE relating to public transportation, revising rates of youth fare to zero; and amending Ordinance 13480, Section 2, as amended, and K.C.C. 4A.700.010, Ordinance 12643, Section 12, as amended, and K.C.C. 4A.700.450 and Ordinance 17935, Section 6, as amended, and K.C.C. 4A.700.820.

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STATEMENT OF FACTS:

1.  K.C.C. 4A.700.010 provides for fares for regularly scheduled county public transportation service on buses, trolleys, transit vans, dial-a-ride vehicles and streetcars, including fares for adults, children, youth, seniors and persons with disabilities and low-income riders.

2.  K.C.C. 4A.700.450 provides for the execution of agreements with public school districts to supply students with passes in connection with special school programs and ties the rates for such passes to the youth fare.

3.  K.C.C. 4A.700.820 provides for fares for regularly scheduled county passenger ferry service, including fares for adults paying in cash or with a prepaid fare product, children, youth, seniors and persons with disabilities, and low-income riders.

4.  The King County Metro Strategic Plan for Public Transportation, 2021-2031, as adopted by Ordinance 19367, includes a strategy to "Align fares with other service providers, meet revenue targets, and advance equity through Metro's income-based approach to fares."

5.  The current youth fare is $1.50 for buses, trolleys, transit vans, dial-a-ride vehicles and streetcars, $3.75 for the West Seattle water taxi route,  $4.50 for the Vashon Island water taxi route and $1.75 for paratransit service.  The youth fare is available to persons from six through eighteen years old and person over eighteen years old who receive student passes under K.C.C. 4A.700.450.

6.  In March 2022, the Washington state Legislature passed a $17 billion transportation funding bill known as Move Ahead Washington.  This transportation investment legislation added a new section to chapter 47.66 RCW establishing a transit support grant program for the purpose of providing financial support to transit agencies for operating and capital expenses and requiring that to be eligible to receive grant funding from this program a transit agency must have adopted a zero-fare policy that allows passengers eighteen years of age and younger to ride free of charge on all modes provided by the agency and must submit documentation of this zero-fare policy by October 1, 2022.

7.  King County area public schools begin the 2022-23 school year in September of 2022. In order to facilitate disbursement of student passes, any fare changes applicable to students must be effective by September 1, 2022.

8. The Metro transit department's fund management policies for the public transportation fund, as adopted by Ordinance 18321, provide that the Metro transit department will recover at least twenty-five percent and will maintain a target of recovering thirty percent of passenger related operating costs from farebox revenues for bus service.  Youth fares account for approximately six percent of total farebox revenues.

9.  The increased revenue provided from the Move Ahead Washington transit support grant program would offset the reduction in fare revenue from adopting a no-charge youth fare policy.

10.  In recognition of the equity and social justice benefits of a zero-fare policy for youth and to maintain the eligibility of the Metro transit department to apply for transit support grants under the Move Ahead Washington transportation investment program, the King County executive and council support a zero-fare policy for youth. 

                     BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:

                     SECTION 1.  Ordinance 13480, Section 2, as amended, and K.C.C. 4A.700.010 are hereby amended to read as follows:

                     A.  Except as may otherwise be provided by ordinance, the following fare categories and rates are established for regularly scheduled county public transportation service on buses, trolleys, transit vans, dial-a-ride vehicles and streetcars:

                     The fare categories and rates are subject to, and defined by, the following:

                       1.  The child fare is available to persons up to six years old when accompanied by a responsible person paying the proper fare as set forth in this chapter.  Up to four children may ride with each responsible person;

                       2.  The youth fare is available to persons from six through eighteen years old and persons over eighteen years old who receive student passes under K.C.C. 4A.700.450;

                       3.  The senior and persons with disabilities fare is available to persons who apply for and receive a regional reduced fare permit.  The permits are available to persons at least sixty-five years old and persons with disabilities as provided in the regional reduced fare permit program authorized under K.C.C. 28.94.255;

                       4.  A person with a disability who has been issued an “attendant ride free” permit by the department may be accompanied by an attendant, who is not required to pay a fare; and

                       5.  The low-income fare is available to persons who apply for and are determined to meet the threshold eligibility requirements for the low-income transit fare program authorized under K.C.C. 4A.700.490 and receive a valid low-income transit fare product.

                     B.  A fare in subsection A. of this section is paid when a person pays the appropriate amount in cash or presents an appropriate pass, transfer or other fare payment media established under and used in accordance with this chapter.

                     C.1.  Regional and institutional passes, in various single-trip value denominations and for various effective periods, may be issued and sold in accordance with the terms of an agreement approved by the council and entered into with other public transportation providers in the region.  Institutions include employers, groups of employers, educational institutions, transportation management associations and other organizations.  The effective periods, single-trip values and prices for the regional and institutional passes shall be established by the agreement.  A valid regional or institutional pass may be presented an unlimited number of times during its effective period as full or partial payment of the applicable fare.  To the extent the single trip value of the regional pass is not sufficient to cover the applicable fare, the rider shall pay the difference in cash or from an electronic stored value product, such as e purse.

                     2.  For institutions entering into an annual institutional pass agreement, the following schedule of calculations shall determine the cost of the annual agreement for ((King County Metro's)) the Metro transit department's portion of the agreement:

                     For purposes of this formula, "added trips" means those trips taken during the prior twelve months, determined either from surveys or electronic counting of actual institutional pass use, that exceed the number of baseline trips established at the execution of the institutional pass agreement.  Electronic counts of one month or more will be annualized and used in lieu of survey results if available.

                     For purposes of this formula, "baseline trips" means the estimated number of transit trips taken by the contracting party's covered population of students, employees or others, or any combination thereof, in the twelve months preceding execution of the institutional pass agreement. Baseline trips may be adjusted on an annual basis to account for changes in the number of eligible employees.

                     For purposes of this formula, in the event a party terminates or does not renew an institutional pass agreement, any subsequent institutional pass agreement entered into with that party shall be priced as if in the "fourth twelve months and thereafter" category.

                     For purposes of this formula, "trip revenue" or "TR" means the weighted average fare per trip determined by the department.

                     D.  The rate of fare for paratransit service shall be $1.75 per trip and $63.00 for a monthly pass, except that a no-charge youth fare shall be available to persons from six through eighteen years old and persons over eighteen years old who receive student passes under K.C.C. 4A.700.450.

                     E.  The rate of fare for customized bus service to residents of Center Park, a facility of the Seattle Housing Authority located at 2121 - 26th Avenue South, Seattle, is equal to the paratransit fares specified in subsection D. of this section.

                     SECTION 2.  Ordinance 12643, Section 12, as amended, and K.C.C. 4A.700.450 are hereby amended to read as follows:

                     The executive is authorized to execute agreements with public school districts to supply students with passes in connection with special school programs ((, but the price for passes under the agreements shall be established at a rate of thirty-six times the youth fare in K.C.C. 4A.700.010 for each month in which these passes are valid, and the passes shall be regional passes as defined in K.C.C. 4A.700.010)).

                     SECTION 3.  Ordinance 17935, Section 6, as amended, and K.C.C. 4A.700.820 are hereby amended to read as follows:

                     A.1.  Except as may otherwise be provided by ordinance, the following fare categories and rates are established for regularly scheduled passenger ferry service:

  2.  The fare categories and rates are subject to, and defined by, the following:

                         a.  All fares shall be established only for a one-way trip;

                         b.  All fares shall be rounded up to the next whole twenty-five cent increment;

                         c.  The cash fare is determined by adding a fifteen-percent surcharge to the regular prepaid fare and applies to cash and ticket purchases;

                         d.  The regular prepaid fare is established as the base rate for persons nineteen years old and older using ORCA prepaid fare media;

                         e.  The child fare is available to persons five years and under when accompanied by a parent, guardian or other person aged sixteen or older and paying the proper fare as set forth in this chapter;

                         f.  The youth ((prepaid)) fare is available to persons from six through eighteen years old and persons over eighteen years old who receive valid student pass transit-fare products under K.C.C. 4A.700.450((.  The youth prepaid fare shall be twenty-five percent less than the regular prepaid fare));

                         g.  The senior and persons with disabilities fare is available to persons who apply for and receive a regional reduced fare permit.  The permits are available to persons at least sixty-five years old and persons with disabilities as provided in the regional reduced fare permit program authorized under K.C.C. 28.94.255;

                         h.  A person with a disability who has been issued an "attendant ride free" permit as authorized under K.C.C. 4A.700.010 may be accompanied by an attendant, who is not required to pay a fare;

                         i.  A person who has paid fare may bring a bicycle onto a water taxi at no additional charge, up to the water taxi's bicycle capacity; and

                         j.  The low-income fare is available to persons who apply for and are determined to meet the threshold eligibility requirements for the low-income transit fare program authorized under K.C.C. 4A.700.490, when effective, and receive a valid low-income transit fare product.  The low-income fare shall be twenty-five percent less than the regular fare.

                     B.  A fare in subsection A. of this section is paid when a person pays the appropriate amount in cash or presents an appropriate pass, transfer or other fare payment media established under and used in accordance with this chapter.

                     SECTION 4.  This ordinance takes effect September 1, 2022.