How important is lived experience in government to ensure our elected officials are in touch with the people they serve? A new bill in the Washington Legislature seeks to test exactly that. House Bill (HB) 2191, passed by the state House of Representatives
Feb. 8, would allow transit agencies to appoint to their boards up to two transit riders as voting members.
The legislation covers agencies run under the Transportation Benefit District Area (TBDA) model, making up 21 out of the state’s 31 local transit agencies. The bill does not include city, county or regionally incorporated agencies like Sound Transit and King County Metro, which follow governance rules set out by their local jurisdictions.
For Anna Zivarts, founder of the Disability Mobility Initiative and main advocate behind HB 2191, the idea for the legislation came after she witnessed a lack of regard from some transit agency board members toward the impact of potential cuts to service in 2022.
“I [was] inspired by what we had seen in Ben Franklin Transit, which is in the Tri Cities, where the transit board was very anti-transit and tried to cut taxes and gut transit service,” Zivarts said. “I attended a bunch of those meetings online, and it was really horrifying to hear some of the things coming out of the transit board members’ mouths, who really had no sense that there were people in their community who needed transit because they didn’t have other options.”
Under the current law, TBDA-funded transit agency boards are made up primarily of local elected officials. If workers at the agencies have a union, then there must also be a nonvoting labor representative. Zivarts said many of the board members may seldom have used the service they oversee. Most of the agencies covered under HB 2191 are located in rural areas and are often the only available source of public transportation.
Although transit agencies frequently conduct surveys and solicit other forms of input, Zivarts said it was not enough, and riders should have a real say in decisions that affect them. She added that representation is particularly important for the quarter of Washington residents who don’t drive.
“I think having a few folks who actually use transit there, when the conversation turns to ‘we should just cut services’ — there’ll be someone in the room to remind [them] that they’re actually talking about real people’s lives and their ability to participate in the community,” Zivarts said. “There’s a lot of conversations about policy decisions around fare and fare enforcement [and] how to invest. Like, should resources be invested in bus shelters … or transit schedules and making sure transit scheduling across agencies connect. There’s just things that you think about as a transit rider all the time that, if you’re not a transit rider, you may not realize how important they are.”
While HB 2191 does not make having transit riders on the boards a requirement, a number of the agencies have been skeptical of the bill, saying that ordinary riders may not be qualified or have the necessary expertise to oversee a government agency.
However, some agencies already have transit riders on their boards. Intercity Transit, which serves the cities of Olympia, Tumwater, Lacey and Yelm, reserves three board slots for community representatives, which include everyday transit riders.
Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin, a Port Angeles city councilmember who also serves on the Clallam Transit board, testified to the state Senate on Jan. 30 in support of the legislation.
“Riders are the missing voice at our board meetings and should be fully involved in transit agency decision making,” Schromen-Wawrin said.
Both Intercity Transit and Clallam Transit are among the third of Washington transit agencies that have eliminated fares. Zivarts said agencies that solicit more transit rider participation are more likely to implement rider-friendly policies.
HB 2191 passed the state House along partisan lines with a vote of 57 to 40. It now goes to the state Senate and will need to be passed there by March 1 in order to become law.
Guy Oron is the staff reporter for Real Change. He handles coverage of our weekly news stories. Find them on Twitter, @GuyOron.
Read more of the Feb. 14–20, 2024 issue.