Metro should raise fares again. They should also start selling ad space at stops.

I know, it's a shocking suggestion -- it's only been two months, and before that it had been over five years!

Last summer I visited Portland, after an absence of about eighteen months. (I lived there from 2003 to early 2005.) I was shocked to discover that bus fares had risen from $1.50 to $2.10 for a 2-zone ride! (Portland's Tri-Met is also not scared of fares that are not multiples of $.25, which I think is commendable.) I was also impressed to discover that they have much more frequent service between downtown and the suburbs, new buses with nifty LED readouts that display the next stop (and an attached computerized voice that announces it, much better than the flaky mics and unreliable drivers Seattle riders depend on), and LED readouts at most stops which tell you how long until the next bus will arrive (these actually communicate with a GPS system, so they're giving you real info, rather than just regurgitating schedule data). Their fleet is newer and cleaner than Metro's. They have the balls to tear up 5th Avenue downtown to build light rail!

Okay, some of this reflects significant differences in attitude between Seattle and Portland residents. I'm sure Sound Transit would like to be more assertive, if only we'd give them sanction and funding. But a primary difference is that Tri-Met has more money, and they have that money because they have sought more funding.

The usual protest against fare hikes is that they will "harm the poor". Well, I know from experience that when it costs an extra $.50 or $1 a day to commute, it can be a difficulty. However, at this point the gas prices are rising fast enough to make that much difference each month, and what will help "the poor" in this climate is more frequent, less crowded, more useful bus service. The #8 runs from Queen Anne Ave & Mercer up Denny and Olive past SCCC, and then down John and Thomas to the CD. Can you believe that it runs only every 30 minutes during the day? They could double its frequency and still fill it up -- I usually walk out of my way, down to Broadway & Union, to catch the #2, which takes a much more circuitous route to my work in Belltown, because it runs every 15 minutes. Or I give up and walk, because I'd rather do that than stand around.