A public transportation benefit area, abbreviated as PTBA, is a type of public-benefit corporation for

public transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of wh ...

operators in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. It was authorized in 1975 along with a funding mechanism that uses

sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...

es levied within a district. , there are 31 PTBAs that cover most of Washington's counties and large cities, with the exception of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Description

Public transportation benefit areas are defined by

Revised Code of Washington The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) is the compilation of all permanent laws currently in force in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. Temporary laws such as appropriations acts are excluded. It is published by the Washington State S ...

Chapter 36.57A, and are described as special taxing districts created solely for the purpose of funding

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

. Within

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, there are 31 systems that cover all or parts of 23 counties and serve 132 cities. The majority of transit systems in the state are operated by public transportation benefit areas, with the exception of

King County Metro King County Metro, officially the King County Metro Transit Department and often shortened to Metro, is the public transit authority of King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle. It is the eighth-largest transit bus agency in t ...

(a metropolitan county system) and

Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It manages the Link light rail system in Se ...

(a regional transit authority) in the

Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding Satellite city, satellites and suburbs. The United States Census Bureau defines the Seattle–T ...

; as well as county transportation authorities in Columbia County and Grays Harbor County; and city-owned systems in Everett, Pullman, and

Yakima Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, United States, and the state's 11th most populous city. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The ...

. PTBAs are granted the authority to impose a voter-authorized

of up to 0.9 percent and motor vehicle

excise tax file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...

of up to 0.4 percent within its boundaries.

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

, the PTBA of

Snohomish County Snohomish County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. With a population of 827,957 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous county in Washington, after nearby King and Pierce counties, and the 72nd-most popul ...

, was granted a sales tax limit of 1.2 percent in 2015 after exhausting the existing 0.9 percent. PTBAs with boundaries on the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

are also authorized to provide

passenger ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

service in addition to traditional

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

paratransit Paratransit (also community transport in the United Kingdom, or intermediate public transport) is a type of public transport service that supplements fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. P ...

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 ...

services. PTBAs are governed by a

board of director Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, ...

s of not more than nine elected officials, supplemented by a

union representative A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the un ...

. In Thurston County, the board is allowed to have citizen members; in Mason County, elected officials on the board include representatives from school boards, fire districts, and hospital districts. A special type of PTBA for

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

s within counties, called unincorporated transportation benefit areas. , only two UTBAs exist, in

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...

and Whitman counties. Only two PTBAs serve more than one county: Ben Franklin Transit in Benton and

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

counties; and Link Transit in Chelan and

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

counties. These systems are allowed up to 15 members on their board of directors.

History

On July 1, 1975,

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Daniel J. Evans Daniel Jackson Evans (October 16, 1925 – September 20, 2024) was an American politician from the state of Washington. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives from 1957 to 1965, gov ...

signed Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill No. 2280 into law, creating the PTBA. The bill had been proposed by the Snohomish County Transportation Authority (SNO-TRAN), who would later use the legislation to establish the state's first PTBA, the Snohomish County Public Transportation Benefit Area Corporation, later renamed

, in November 1975.

List of public transportation benefit areas

, Washington has 21 PTBAs and two unincorporated systems.

Notes

References

External links

Legal definition: RCW 36.57APublic Transportation Systems in Washington
at the

Municipal Research and Services Center The Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) is a non-profit organization based in Seattle with a mission of "supporting effective local government in Washington through trusted consultation, research, training, and collaboration". Founded ...

Washington Transit Links
from the

American Public Transportation Association The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit group of approximately 1,500 public and private sector member organizations that promotes and advocates for the interests of the public transportation industry in the United ...