Dear Bellingham City Councilmembers and Mayor Kim Lund,

When more people use public transit, communities are healthier, more affordable, and more environmentally sustainable. Today, Bellingham stands at a crossroads. Fare hikes are imminent — doubling for fixed line routes and tripling for paratransit. At the same time, the City and WTA are planning enhanced GO Line Service. Both policy developments have significant implications for the goal of building ridership.

According to data used by WTA, doubling fixed-route fares could reduce ridership by up to 43%^[1]. This reduced ridership represents more single-occupancy vehicles on our roads and less access to crucial services for low-income residents without other transit options.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more public transit agencies in the U.S. have stopped charging fares entirely to get more people riding. A 2025 study of 14 agencies found that when fares were eliminated, ridership increased by about 55% on average.^[2] Increased ridership is better for Bellingham. It supports the city’s goal of increasing higher density residential and commercial development to meet our housing crisis. It means fewer single-occupancy vehicles on our roads and less greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere.

We are a broad coalition of community members and organizations who believe that improving service, not raising fares, is the most effective way to strengthen ridership and reach our community’s stated goals. We advocate for the approach recommended by the WTA’s Rapid Transit Study, which includes improvements to Go Line frequency and reliability. As we shared during WTA public comment in both November and December of 2025, we do not support a fare increase, particularly when higher costs risk reducing access for riders who depend on transit the most and undermining efforts to increase ridership.

The City of Bellingham (COB) is a Transportation Benefit District (TBD). A TBD has full legal authority to create an annual vehicle license fee. The fee would start at $20 per vehicle. This local option would raise about $1.4 million each year to support high-quality public transit. The undersigned organizations and individuals urge the COB to use its Transportation Benefit District authority to enact the vehicle license fee to pilot fare elimination for WTA riders and support accelerated implementation of GO Line service enhancements. Your leadership is vital for providing the safe, fast, and reliable public transportation that your community deserves.

In service of our shared community,

¹ Daling, Jasmine. “Raise or Hold? Estimating the Whatcom Transportation Authority’s Fare Elasticity.” CEDAR, Spring 2025: p. 11.

² Tyndall, Justin. “Fare-Free Transit in the United States: Effects on Ridership, Service, and Finances.” Working Paper, University of Hawai’i Moana, 2025: p. 11, https://www.justintyndall.com/Tyndall_farefree.pdf