Island Transit is a

zero-fare Free public transport, often called fare-free public transit or zero-fare public transport, refers to public transport funded in full by means other than by collecting fares from passengers. It may be funded by national, regional or local gove ...

transit system in Island County,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, serving

Whidbey Island Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington State. (The other large island is Camano Island, ...

and

Camano Island Camano Island is a large island in Possession Sound, a section of Puget Sound. It is part of Island County, Washington, and is located between Whidbey Island and the mainland (Snohomish County) by the Saratoga Passage to the west and Port Susa ...

. The system consists of fixed-route

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

service,

paratransit Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...

, and

vanpool Vanpools or Vanpooling is an element of the transit system that allow groups of people to share the ride similar to a carpool, but on a larger scale with concurrent savings in fuel and vehicle operating costs and thus usually a lower cost to the ...

s, and carried a total of 974,899 passengers in 2015. There is no Sunday or holiday service on Island Transit routes. The system is funded by a 0.9 percent sales tax within Island County, as well as state and federal grants. The tax was initially 0.3 percent when bus service started in 1987, but was increased in 2000 and 2009 in response to funding shortfalls.

History

Island Transit was established in 1983 as a

public transportation benefit area A public transportation benefit area, abbreviated as PTBA, is a type of public-benefit corporation for public transit operators in the U.S. state of Washington. Description Public transportation benefit areas are defined by Revised Code of Washin ...

(PTBA), a type of municipal corporation in Washington state for public transit agencies. The Island County Board of Commissioners proposed the creation of a PTBA in September 1980, using a 0.3 percent sales and use tax to fund a bus system. The sales tax was part of two countywide votes in 1980 and 1982, where it was twice rejected. Following the second defeat, the boundaries of the PTBA were re-drawn to exclude part of northern Whidbey Island and all of Camano Island. The sales tax and transit system was approved by 56.5 percent of voters in a third ballot measure, held on November 8, 1983, within the revised boundaries. A lawsuit was filed in 1985 challenging the revision of PTBA boundaries prior to the third vote, with the

appellant In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

s from northern Whidbey arguing that their constitutional rights of

equal protection The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...

and equal suffrage were deprived because of their inability to vote on the measure. The following year, the

Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. Justices must retir ...

upheld the PTBA's boundary revision, allowing it to begin collecting sales tax that was authorized by the vote. The PTBA renamed itself "Island Transit" and began operating fare-free service on December 1, 1987, with four bus routes covering Oak Harbor and southern Whidbey Island,

service to the

Boeing Everett Factory The Boeing Everett Factory is an airplane assembly facility built by Boeing in Everett, Washington, United States. It sits at the northeast corner of Paine Field and includes the largest building in the world by volume at 13,385,378 m3 (472,37 ...

, and contracted

dial-a-ride Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...

service. In March 1992, Island Transit became the first agency in the state of Washington to operate

service required by the new Americans with Disabilities Act. Later that year, northern Whidbey Island was annexed into the PTBA district after approval from voters; service to northern Whidbey Island began the following March.

voters approved annexation into the Island Transit district on May 16, 1996, after trial service to the island that began in January. The agency opened its first

transit center A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips. F ...

, located in Oak Harbor, in December 1996. The passage of Initiative 695 in November 1999 eliminated the use of

motor vehicle excise tax Road tax, known by various names around the world, is a tax which has to be paid on, or included with, a motorised vehicle to use it on a public road. National implementations Australia All states and territories require an annual vehicle registr ...

, a funding source for local transit throughout the state, including 60 percent of Island Transit's annual fixed revenue. By the end of the year, intra-county service to

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

and Saturday service on Whidbey Island were both cancelled, and 13 employees were laid off. In May 2000, a 0.3 percent sales tax increase for Island Transit was approved, bringing the total tax to 0.6 percent. Saturday service was restored in August, and a new route to Mount Vernon began in July 2001. Intra-county service was expanded in September 2005 with the establishment of the "County Connector" network by Island Transit,

Skagit Transit Skagit Transit is a public transit system in Skagit County, Washington, US. It operates 17 bus routes, as well as paratransit and vanpool services across the entire county. The agency was founded in 1993 and is funded by a 0.4 percent local sale ...

and Whatcom Transit Authority, with routes from Whidbey Island to Mount Vernon as well as Camano Island to Mount Vernon and

Everett Station Everett Station is an Amtrak train station serving the city of Everett, Washington. The station has provided service to the '' Cascades'' and ''Empire Builder'' routes since its opening in 2002, replacing an earlier station near the Port of E ...

. The sales tax was increased once again, to 0.9 percent, in 2009 by voters amidst the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

and declining sales tax revenue. The agency considered introducing fares for all of its routes in 2018 to fund service improvements, but rejected the proposal due to public opposition and impacts to ridership.

Routes

All Whidbey

* Route 1: (Oak Harbor to Clinton): via Coupeville, Greenbank, South Whidbey State Park, Freeland, and Bayview *Route 1 Saturday: Oak Harbor to Coupeville/Clinton Ferries

North/Central Whidbey

* Route 3: (East Oak Harbor Shuttle): Oak Harbor to Gravel Pit, via Crescent Harbor Road * Route 6: (Oak Harbor to Coupeville): Oak Harbor to Coupeville Ferry Terminal, via Coupeville, Fort Casey * Route 10: (Central Oak Harbor Shuttle) * Route 12: (West Oak Harbor Shuttle) *Route 22: Saturday (Oak Harbor City Shuttle) *NASWI Commuter: Serves Navy Personnel only (must provide credentials)

South Whidbey

* Route 57: (Clinton to Langley to Freeland): Clinton to Langley, then Freeland via Bayview through Goss lake Area * Route 58: (Clinton): Scatchet Head to Ken's Korner through Maxwelton or Clinton Ferry * Clinton Commuter: Designated commuter times for Routes 57, and 58 *Route 60: (Saturday) Bayview to Clinton Ferry via Langley

County Wide

* Route 411W: (County Connector): Oak Harbor to March's Point, via Troxell/Ducken; connection to

Camano Island

* Route 1C (West Camano Island): Terry's Corner to Camano Plaza, Lost Lake, Cama Beach, Chapman, and Huntington * Route 2C (East Camano Island): Terry's Corner to Shuskan, via Windermere, Elger Bay * Route 3C: Terry's Corner to Stanwood; connection to

Community Transit Community Transit (CT) is the public transit authority of Snohomish County, Washington, United States, excluding the city of Everett, in the Seattle metropolitan area. It operates local bus, paratransit and vanpool service within Snohomish C ...

* Route 411C (County Connector): Terry's Corner to Mount Vernon, via Stanwood (Saturday’s this route is combined with Route 3C) * Route 412C (County Connector): Terry's Corner to

Fleet

Current bus fleet

References

External links

* {{Puget Sound Transit Bus transportation in Washington (state) Transportation in Island County, Washington Zero-fare transport services Transit agencies in Washington (state)