By Brittney Bush Bollay, Seattle Group Chair
The winter of 2012 was an intense one. I was a busy extrovert struggling to adjust to new motherhood, exhausted by sleepless nights, bored by endless days at home, and feeling crushed by the unremitting grey of the weather. I longed to get out, to see friends and move around the city. But I had a newborn, and that newborn hated - HATED - the car. Once strapped into the car seat, my kiddo would scream so loud and so incessantly that I couldn’t concentrate on anything else, making driving not only stressful for us both but downright dangerous. I could easily have been trapped, confined to my house and my neighborhood. But I had a secret weapon.
I had a transit pass.
Transit is freedom, and my ORCA card let me continue to move around the city I love, seeing my friends and sharing it with my young child, fighting the isolation that threatens many new parents. I could hop on the bus or the light rail, never worrying about transfers or change, and simply live my life. This is a privilege everyone deserves. That’s why Sierra Club is a supporter of the ORCA for All campaign.
The goal of ORCA for All is simple: to put an unlimited transit pass in the hands of every Seattle and King County resident and worker. Many already receive this benefit from their employers, but many more do not -- and lower-wage workers are the most likely to be excluded.
This year we are calling on the city to pass legislation requiring large employers to subsidize ORCA cards for their employees, allowing more people to easily choose the freedom of transit over the drudgery and pollution of car commutes, and freeing employers from the pressure of providing expensive and space-sucking parking. This way we can immediately increase transit ridership and maintain transit funding without burdening the people of Seattle with more regressive taxes.
Want to help? First, write or call your city council member and tell them you support ORCA for All. Then ask five of your friends to do the same. You can also sign this petition.
If you want to get more involved, fill out this survey on what you think the final legislation should look like and come to weekly action meetings on Saturday afternoons. This is an exciting opportunity to do hands-on work on a policy that will literally change the lives of thousands of your neighbors.
The benefits of getting more people onto public transit are manifold: fewer cars on the road means cleaner air for us to breathe, less tire debris washing away to harm our salmon and our orca, and shorter commute times for everyone. That little blue card in your wallet might also help you, or your neighbor, or one or a hundred or a thousand other Seattleites get through the winter. Transit is justice. Transit is hope. Transit is freedom.
Picture credit: Oran Viriyincy.