[TRU Research] New ORCA for All survey? etc.

Thu Jan 30 18:07:39 PST 2020

I’m on #8 some distance away

On Thu, Jan 30, 2020 at 5:51 PM Katie Wilson <katie at transitriders.org>
wrote:

> Sounds good. I’m just finishing something up & I’ll head over to Victrola
> (since I live like five blocks away) so I’m running probably like 5 minutes
> late at this point. See some of you shortly...
>
>
> On Jan 30, 2020, at 5:50 PM, Stephen DeSanto <rachidian at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I can't make it tonight, but save some work for me and I can tackle it in
> the days ahead. I'm going to try to be at the meeting this Saturday, also.
>
> Stephen
>
> On Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 17:04 Katie Wilson <katie at transitriders.org> wrote:
>
>> Yes, Victrola on 15th. See you soon!
>>
>> On Jan 30, 2020, at 5:03 PM, Harry Maher <harryb.maher at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Were we doing Victrola? Let me know if otherwise, or if we made other
>> plans, but I'll plan on seeing you there soon!
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 9:41 PM Katie Wilson <katie at transitriders.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hey all,
>>>
>>> I drafted up a survey.
>>> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/13OOhJ17MQEIXrSFT6eykcdtKhlE6oT-C2A3AW6jolbE/edit?usp=sharing> If
>>> you have a chance to take a look before we meet next Thursday (or if you’re
>>> unable to come to that meeting), please feel free to make comments &
>>> suggestions in the doc.
>>>
>>> Katie
>>>
>>> On Jan 19, 2020, at 9:44 AM, Katie Wilson <katie at transitriders.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> TRU is co-leading two workshops, one on fare enforcement & orca for all
>>> <https://www.facebook.com/events/622099341858814/> (but mostly fare
>>> enforcement) and other other as part of the homelessness conversations
>>> project, with a focus on native american homelessness. Both are
>>> 9:30am-10:50am at Garfield High School. We’ll find out our room assignments
>>> tomorrow morning.
>>>
>>> On Jan 18, 2020, at 11:37 AM, Jim Walseth <jim.walseth at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Thursday the 30th is on my calendar.
>>> What's up with the workshop before MLK march on Monday? I'm not able to
>>> find any info beyond that they are happening, and there will be snacks :)
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jan 17, 2020 at 5:29 PM Katie Wilson <katie at transitriders.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ok, let’s lock this in for *Thursday the 30th at 6pm*. I think we’ll
>>>> be a fairly small group (4-6), so anywhere with good table space and
>>>> relatively quiet should work. Victrola on 15th is one option, though
>>>> sometimes they’re pretty packed. Any location ideas or preferences?
>>>>
>>>> Katie
>>>>
>>>> On Jan 16, 2020, at 4:16 PM, Katie Wilson <katie at transitriders.org>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi All,
>>>>
>>>> Just a reminder to fill out this poll
>>>> <https://doodle.com/poll/cdvi9gp8shz4nprp> when you have a sec— before
>>>> the end of the day tomorrow— so we can schedule a meeting.
>>>>
>>>> Re Jim’s question, if anyone wants to try this, that’s cool. However, I
>>>> think cold-calling employers to ask for this information may be a
>>>> time-consuming and thankless task, possibly with little success. But I
>>>> think there are other ways. I met with someone from the Downtown Seattle
>>>> Association earlier this week, and he said they will try to help us get
>>>> more information about what transit benefits their members (businesses
>>>> mainly in the downtown area) offer. We’ll see where that goes.
>>>>
>>>> Also, we’ve gotten a couple of form submissions in the past week from
>>>> people telling us what transit benefits their employers do or do not
>>>> offer.  The most recent one is kind of interesting, so I’m pasting it below.
>>>>
>>>> - Katie
>>>>
>>>> *Employer:* IBI Group
>>>>
>>>> *Transportation Benefits:* Offers pre-tax option: employees can
>>>> purchase transit pass products with a payroll deduction
>>>>
>>>> *Anything else you want to tell us?:* Subsidized ORCA cards have been
>>>> a source of contention in the office and has been discussed as long as I
>>>> have been at the firm. There has been a variety of excuses for delaying and
>>>> suboptimal proposals given (for example, giving a stored value credit, but
>>>> many of us worked out it would still be cheaper to buy out of pocket the
>>>> monthly pass). It's somewhat ironic that IBI Group was the firm was the one
>>>> that ST and KCM hired to implement the ORCA card system and yet doesn't
>>>> offer subsidized passes to their employees.
>>>>
>>>> On Jan 15, 2020, at 12:49 PM, Jim Walseth <jim.walseth at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Katie *et al*,
>>>> On the topic of " a survey specifically for businesses ", I think we
>>>> would have more complete data on existing transit subsidies if we go to the
>>>> employers directly. Like, just call them and ask. The data would go a long
>>>> way to answering " how many employees our legislation would impact ".
>>>> I wonder what it would cost to hire someone to do that.
>>>> Jim
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Jan 14, 2020 at 12:12 PM Katie Wilson <katie at transitriders.org>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hey folks,
>>>>>
>>>>> Happy new year! 2020 is the year we extend employer-subsidized transit
>>>>> passes to thousands more Seattle workers. Our goal is to pass legislation
>>>>> in the first half of the year.
>>>>>
>>>>> TRU’s organizing team will be meeting later this month to develop our
>>>>> organizing plan. But we also need a research & data plan. I’m wondering if
>>>>> we can schedule a meeting soon to discuss what role this group might be
>>>>> play in the campaign. Here’s a doodle poll
>>>>> <https://doodle.com/poll/cdvi9gp8shz4nprp> for evenings the week
>>>>> starting Jan. 27. If you’re interested in this discussion, please fill out
>>>>> the poll by the end of this week. (I chose 5:30-7pm as the meeting time,
>>>>> but we could shift this earlier or later depending on people’s schedules—
>>>>> if you prefer a different start time, maybe make a note of that in the
>>>>> poll.)
>>>>>
>>>>> My main idea so far is that we could design an online survey to
>>>>> collect input on the details of the legislation. Something like:
>>>>>
>>>>> Here’s our basic proposal: employers with over 500 employees worldwide
>>>>> have to offer a 50% transit subsidy. What do you think of it? (Hate it to
>>>>> love it, scale 1-10 or whatever)
>>>>> Here’s ten ways the proposal could get more complicated, what do you
>>>>> think of each one?
>>>>> - include an upper tier for employers with 1000+ or 5000+ employees in
>>>>> Seattle, require 75% or 90% or 100% transit subsidy
>>>>> - exempt non-profits
>>>>> - include v. exclude part-time, temporary/seasonal, and contract
>>>>> employees
>>>>> - etc.
>>>>> Any other thoughts or ideas? (open-ended)
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> And maybe we also do a survey specifically for businesses… not sure if
>>>>> that’s a good idea, but worth considering.
>>>>>
>>>>> Maybe there are other projects we could work on too that would be
>>>>> helpful to the campaign at this point. For example, it would be great to
>>>>> get a better sense of how many employees our legislation would impact. It’s
>>>>> possible we could do some back-of-the-napkin calculations and be able to
>>>>> say “this would result in at least X workers being offered better transit
>>>>> benefits” or something like that.
>>>>>
>>>>> Katie
>>>>>
>>>>> Katie Wilson
>>>>> General Secretary
>>>>> Transit Riders Union
>>>>> https://transitriders.org
>>>>> 206-781-7204
>>>>>
>>>>> *The Transit Riders Union is a democratic organization of working and
>>>>> poor **people, including students, seniors, and people with
>>>>> disabilities, taking control over our own lives, and building up the power
>>>>> we **need to change society for the good of humanity and of the
>>>>> planet. We will **fight to preserve, expand, and improve the public
>>>>> transportation system in **Seattle and beyond, so that every human
>>>>> being has access to safe, **affordable, and reliable public transit.*
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
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