Thomas Smith

ENG 101
Proposal final draft

Dear WTA Board of Directors,

The Whatcom transit system aims to provide efficient and reliable bus
services, according to the mission statement provided online. With over 60
full time buses running through every corner of Whatcom County, the bus
serves approximately 5 million riders a year. Unlike many other transit
systems, Whatcom provides affordable prices at only $1 per ride, and offers
the assistance of friendly drivers. The result is a convenient and dynamic
web of public transportation.
With all of these aspects in mind, what more could we ask for from a
transit system? As a citizen of Bellingham who rides the bus up to 5 times a
week, there is a concern that arisen in my mind that I would like to bring
forth. It has come to my attention that the times available in the evenings
and weekends could use significant adjustment.
Late Nights
Currently, weekday services begin around 6 a.m. and run until around
9:30 p.m. Comparatively, WTA services end very early. Systems such as the
King County transit often run as late as 3 a.m. Although it is understandable
that in todays economy it can be difficult to maintain inexpensive bus
services, the discrepancy in bus times is problematic for regular riders. The
population of regular riders often consists of people who dont have a
vehicle. These riders are students, workers, and other busy members of the
community.
The issue arises when bus services wrap up for the night, before many
people are able to get where they need to go. For example, The Bellis Fair
mall closes at 9 p.m. Many mall employees I have spoken to have explained
that after clean up and closing the registers, they are left with as little as 5
minutes to make it to the last bus towards downtown.
This same issue applies for students of Whatcom Community College
or Western Washington University. These students attempt to balance an
incredibly busy schedule. For many of these students, this schedule often
includes late nights in the campus library which is open until midnight.
Students who take advantage of this are left to walk or bike home in the
dark.
Early Mornings

Though the bus system begins appropriately early during the week, the
weekend schedule does not make this same consideration. Weekend services
dont begin until approximately 9 a.m. Much like weekday nights, this
discrepancy can cause issues for those who depend on the bus. It is
understandable why services would begin later during the weekend, much
like most businesses do; but this can be very confusing. Riders who are used
to riding during the week, will experience a rude awakening when hoping to
hop on the bus in the morning.
Most of these bus users have morning obligations that they must get
to. Whether it be an opening shift at work, a medical or business
appointment, theyre left to frantically find a ride or call for an expensive
uber ride.
A solution for All
My proposed solution to these issues is to expand the offered times for
WTA buses. These expansions would be made around the two problematic
times discussed; nights and weekend mornings.
At night, I believe that expanding bus times until at least 2 a.m. would
significantly improve the accessibly of the bus for those who need it. With
the times as they are, the bus runs every fifteen minutes during peak hours,
and 30 during slower times. A fair compromise for this expansion would be
for these late night buses to run every 45 minutes, reducing costs to the WTA
which I will discuss further.
As for weekend mornings, I would like to see services beginning at the
same time as they do during the week. Though this solution does not come
without its costs that I will discuss further, a fair compromise would be
starting by at least eight. This would slightly reduce the costs and still
improve the accessibility of morning services to bus riders.
Costs and Benefits
As I mentioned before, this expansion would not come without obvious
costs. I understand that the bus system does not have an unlimited supply of
money to improve services. Most of the funds currently come from state and
federal grants. The proposed solution to the issue at hand carries significant
financial costs. The first being that extended services would require
additional fuel for the buses which are diesel-electric hybrids according to a
2013 WTA report. The second significant cost would be paying the wages for
drivers to drive during these new times.
Having taken these costs into consideration, I would like to propose a
small increase in fares to fund these extensions. This price increase could be

as little as 25 cents per ride. If each ride became $1.25 and the WTA saw
approximately 17,000 rides per week which is the recorded average; the
transit system would see a $4,250/week increase. I believe that this gross
profit would cover the costs on my proposed solution.
As a result, I think the quality of WTA services would be severely
improved. The citizens of Bellingham who are dependent on the bus would
no longer face the time conflicts they did before. This expansion would solve
one of the few issues I have observed with the ever-growing transportation
system.
Call to Action
Within the Mission statement provided online, one
aim of the Whatcom Transit Authority is Partnering
with our community to improve transportation
systems. I would like to see the WTA take
accountability and put consideration into this proposal.
In a world where people are increasingly busy and time
is a valuable commodity, it is important to assess the
efficiency and accessibility of a public system. I
recently partook in a survey conducted by the WTA to
assess the system, and would like to similar surveys
and improvements made in the near future.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Thomas Smith

Word count: 983

Work cited:
"Appendix A: List of Rolling Stock, Facilities and EquipmentWhatcom
Transportation Authority 2013 Report and Transit Development Plan 2014 2019.
Web. 21 May 2016.
http://web.archive.org/web/20150715115057/http://www.ridewta.com/files/file/Budg
et/2014
_tdp.pdf
Mission." Whatcom Transit Authority. Web. 21 May 2016
http://www.ridewta.com/business/about-wta/mission
"Public Transportation." Facts. Web. 16 May 2016.
http://www.apta.com/mediacenter/ptbenefits/Pages/FactSheet.aspx