Edmonds Students Join the ORCA Tap Dance

Edmonds Community College has partnered with Community Transit to provide bus pass benefits to students for more than 15 years.

The student government pays Community Transit based on EdPass usage, and the percentage of students getting the transit sticker hit all-time highs in the 2009-2010 academic year – an average of 71% of full-time equivalent students. To keep from breaking the bank and to share the costs a bit, a quarterly fee of $15 per pass was imposed last fall for the first time (the value of the unlimited pass is at least 10 times that). Despite the small cost, 2,828 Edmonds students purchased an EdPass bus sticker last fall.

The popular program takes another new twist this quarter. The EdPass bus benefit is now powered by ORCA.

The days of quarterly bus stickers and confusion about how to pay for Swift bus rapid transit are over. To pay their bus pass fee each quarter, students now enroll in the “ORCC class” when they register for other classes.

When boarding a bus, instead of students showing their EdPass /ORCA card to the driver or Swift Ambassador, they now tap it on the ORCA reader – just like the other bus passengers. It will speed boarding and simplify quarterly bus pass renewals. Beyond that, the new EdPass/ORCA card will provide better data on how (and how often) college students use transit.

Unlike regular ORCA cards, the EdPass/ORCA card as provided by the college is good only on Community Transit buses. But now students can add pass or cash value to their EdPass/ORCA for trips on Sound Transit or other systems rather than needing a separate ORCA card or cash.

The EdPass has always been a great reason to choose Edmonds. Kudos to the student government leaders who have remained committed to this program and made it even more valuable with the addition of the EdPass/ORCA card.