What Happened
On December 4, 2025, the Whatcom Transportation Authority's Board of Directors held an open house for public comment about its proposed steep fare hikes. Over 225 citizens attended, the vast majority being Western Washington University (WWU) students, with several advocates for senior and disabilities groups also present. Such high attendance at 8 a.m. is highly unusual, possibly unique.
Yet the WTA board limited the hearing to only one hour rather than extending it to be as inclusive as possible. There was only sufficient time to hear a small number of attendees. The board then invited citizens to leave their remaining comments until the end of the next day.
A week later, the board voted 6 to 2 in favor of the rate hike, with only Bellingham Mayor Kim Lund and Whatcom County Councilperson Todd Donovan opposed. Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu was absent and has since resigned from the board.
What the Fare Hike Means
Under the new plan:
- Fixed route (bus) fares double from $1 to $2 per ride, with a daily cap of $6 and monthly cap of $60. These caps only apply to riders who use an electronic pass.
- Reduced fares for low-income, elderly, and disabled riders increase to $1 per ride.
- Paratransit fares jump to $3 per ride.
- WWU's universal student bus pass is ended. Students would pay per ride instead of riding on a prepaid institutional pass.
- Youth under 18 continue to ride for free.
Almost one-third (29%) of WTA's fare collections are in cash, from riders who do not carry credit cards or cannot buy passes in advance. These unbanked riders will be hit hardest, as they cannot take advantage of the fare caps that are only available electronically.
Why This Fare Hike Is Wrong
Raising fares loses riders every time
It is a truism of transit planning that fare hikes trigger losses in ridership. WTA's own data compiled over several decades demonstrates that even a relatively small 25 cent fare increase in 2008, followed by the 2010 cessation of issuing transfers and the elimination of Sunday services, led to a significant ridership loss.
That negative trend was only reversed when Bellingham citizens passed a 2010 initiative creating a tax-funded Transportation Benefit District (TBD, now known as the T-Fund) that restored Sunday service and funded cycling and pedestrian improvements. The initiative passed by nearly 60%, and was renewed for another 10 years in 2020 by 80%.
WTA's finances are not in an emergency
The farebox contributes only approximately $1.6 million, just 5%, of WTA's $31 million annual fixed-route operating costs. WTA reserves are currently as robust or more robust than in many recent years. Meanwhile, ridership is growing at a healthy 7% pace (2024 vs. 2023). Raising fares steeply at this moment makes little financial or strategic sense.
It contradicts WTA's own mission
Many transit systems are currently lowering or eliminating fares rather than raising them, to attract more riders, eliminate farebox conflicts between drivers and passengers, and allow faster boarding. WTA itself already eliminated fares for youth under 18, which increased bus riding for that demographic. Doubling fares moves in the opposite direction.
It hits the most vulnerable riders hardest
Seniors, disabled riders, low-income workers, and those without smartphones or bank accounts will bear the brunt of these increases. Transit-dependent riders who have no other option cannot simply choose another mode of transportation. The fare hike effectively punishes the very people public transit exists to serve.
The Importance of Affordable Public Transit
When done well, public transit serves several aspects of the public good:
- Provides vital mobility for those who are mobility-limited or impaired
- With sufficient ridership, lowers transportation-related pollution
- Transports large numbers of people to commercial, activity, or educational centers
- Helps manage local and regional population growth through compact development
- Strengthens public spaces such as bus stops and streets
- Helps lower the financial burden of vehicle ownership; some households can shed a car entirely
- Allows youth to travel independently without parental chauffeuring
The Student Bus Pass: A Temporary Reprieve, Not a Fix
Recent Agreement Between WTA and Western Is a Temporary Reprieve
At the start of this academic year, WWU students were pushed away from the long-standing simplicity of using their Western Card to board the bus and into a phone-based Umo app system. WTA and WWU agreed to make that transition in June 2025, ending use of the physical Western Card on WTA buses.
The consequences have been immediate and practical. Students have reported being unable to ride because their phone died, lost signal, or the app failed to work properly. The boarding process has become slower and more chaotic. When dozens of students board at once, even small scanning delays push routes behind schedule. The fact that some drivers have reportedly stopped insisting on scans just to keep the bus moving is evidence that the system has created new points of failure where a simpler, more accessible system used to exist.
The recent one-year contract extension, with WWU paying WTA an additional $100,000 and students not seeing a fee increase, is clearly better than the alternative that had been on the table. Students will not be forced to absorb an immediate new cost burden this fall, and that matters. But this should not be mistaken for a real solution. It is a stopgap measure, not a fix.
Under the agreement, students are expected to vote in spring 2027 on a longer-term contract. If the long-term plan is to preserve the bus pass by asking students to approve a major increase in the Active Transportation Fee, then Western is essentially shifting the cost onto students and hoping they will agree to pay an increasingly heavy fee on top of already burdensome tuition, rent, food costs, and other campus fees.
If Western and WTA are serious about protecting student transit access, they need a genuine long-term plan that keeps the bus affordable, restores accessibility, and does not rely on making students pay more for less.
Bellingham Riders Subsidize the Rest of the County
Between 80 and 90 percent of WTA's sales tax revenue and ridership are generated within Bellingham. Yet county routes outside Bellingham make up only 10% of ridership but consume 20% of revenue hours (the time the bus is in service). In other words, county routes eat at least twice as much operating time per rider as Bellingham routes, requiring far greater subsidy.
Routes serving WWU and Whatcom Community College (WCC) are clear high-performers, carrying large numbers of riders efficiently. Many county routes, by contrast, serve low-density areas with few riders per hour and long distances, contributing to the financial pressure the board is using to justify fare hikes.
The fare hike falls most heavily on Bellingham's riders and students, the very people generating the majority of WTA's revenue and ridership.
What Needs to Change
Rather than raising fares, WTA and local governments should explore more equitable and sustainable funding alternatives:
- Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) increment: A small addition to property sale taxes, designed to tax the massive profits from property sales while funding both affordable housing and improved transit.
- Property tax increment: A very small, graduated tax on Whatcom County property values (protecting low- and middle-income residents) could generate a robust and stable funding stream for WTA.
- Zonal fares: Distance-based fares where riders in areas further from the urban core pay proportionally more. This is a globally established practice that WTA has not explored.
- Board reform: The WTA board is over-represented by small city and rural interests despite Bellingham generating the vast majority of revenue and ridership. Reform should give Bellingham greater representation commensurate with its financial contribution.
- Paratransit reform: WTA's paratransit costs are high. Eligibility criteria should be carefully reviewed, and cost-sharing arrangements with ride-hailing and taxi services for less-severely mobility-challenged riders could reduce expenses significantly.
- Maintain and grow the student bus pass: WWU and WTA should negotiate a long-term, affordable universal pass that does not rely on per-ride fees or large student fee increases.
It is unfortunate that WTA's board did not discuss further ways of addressing financial problems other than a drastic fare hike. Perhaps it can challenge its staff to compile more possible solutions and do better with deeper deliberation.
WTA Board of Directors
The board voted 6 to 2 in favor of the fare hike on December 11, 2025.
Whatcom Transportation Authority
Board of Directors, December 2025 Vote- Ali Hawkinson, Chairperson; Ferndale City Council Member
- Jennifer Lautenbach, Vice-Chairperson; Everson City Council (Everson/Nooksack/Sumas)
- Barry Buchanan, Whatcom County Council Member
- Jace Cotton, Bellingham City Council Member
- Scott Korthuis, Mayor of Lynden
- Michael Lilliquist, Bellingham City Council Member
- Kim Lund, Mayor of Bellingham
- Jessica Rienstra, Whatcom County Council Member
- Mary Lou Steward, Mayor of Blaine
- Dan Darwin, Non-Voting Labor Representative
- Kim Lund and Todd Donovan voted NO. Satpal Sidhu (County Executive) was absent and has since resigned.