Seattle to Provide Free ORCA Cards to Seattle Housing Authority Residents
Moxie Hubbard Shirley is ecstatic. The Yesler resident is one of the 10,000 Seattle Housing Authority residents who are getting an ORCA card that will provide unlimited free access to public transportation in the region.
“Oh, Oh my goodness! So many opportunities in the state and the city. I need to visit and go to all these different places and get exposed to everything that I could not be all the way exposed to.”
The free ORCA card program is a national, first-of-its-kind benefit at this scale, according to the city. It is the result of a partnership between the City of Seattle and the Seattle Housing Authority that will last through the end of 2026.
Everyone who is 19 or older and listed on a Seattle Housing Authority lease will be eligible for the card. Those 18 or under already have access to free public transportation.
The program was piloted successfully in 2019 with about 2,000 Housing Authority residents. It is funded with the voter-approved Seattle Transit Measure sales tax.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said during a press conference that the program will help expand opportunity by giving access to free transportation to people in Housing Authority homes—and it will save them money as well.
“Our vision for a vibrant Seattle is dependent on a sustainable transportation system where our neighbors can get where they need to go swiftly, reliably, and most importantly affordably,” said Harrell.
Homeless advocate and Yesler resident Qween’B King-Rios said she is thankful for the new benefit.
“I always used transportation, but I always had to pay. And some days I get to the bus, ‘oh, man, I don't have a dollar.’ Some days, you know, it could be good. Some days could be better. And some days, I’m not going to lie, I give my dollar to somebody who asks for a dollar,” King-Rios said.
Seattle Housing Authority director Rod Brandon said families in Housing Authority communities sometimes have to make hard decisions on how to spend their limited budgets. Access to free transportation will improve their situation.
“To benefit our residents, to give them more choices, more mobility options, more flexibility in their day. It's just huge,” Brandon said. “You heard the mayor talk about 10,000 residents will now have an opportunity to be more mobile and more flexible in their day as they make decisions in their lives.”
King-Rios said the card will open opportunities for her.
“The difference this is going to make to me. First of all, I'm going to be able to get out of my house seven days a week with no worry about how I get there or how much to get back,” King-Rios said. “And it's very important to me because I can go now even further to look for a job--as person with disabilities. I'll be able to go to school. I'll be able to do a lot of things. I got a lot of stuff on my plate now, especially when I can get there for free.”
Harrell said the ultimate goal is to provide public transportation to everyone to create a more sustainable city.
“That should be our goal. That should be an investment strategy that we should seek for a variety of reasons, not just mobility, but for environmental reasons as well,” Harrell said. “So we sort of did it through a lens of—because there's always limited resources—the lens of prioritization. And who we look at first. When you make it available, people use it. So that should be our goal. That is our goal. And hopefully this is a step to get us toward that end.”
