s county connector bus at everett station slogan fare free commenced operation december 1 1987 1987 12 01 headquarters 19758 state route 20 coupeville washington service area island county washington service type bus service paratransit vanpool routes 13 annual ridership 974 899 2015 fuel type diesel chief executive mike nortier website islandtransit.org island transit is a zero fare transit system in island county washington serving whidbey island and camano island . the system consists of fixed route bus service paratransit and vanpools and carried a total of 974 899 passengers in 2015 . 1 18 there is no sunday or holiday service on island transit routes . the system is funded by a 0.9 percent sales tax within island county as well as state and federal grants . the tax was initially 0.3 percent when bus service started in 1987 but was increased in 2000 and 2009 in response to funding shortfalls . contents 1 history 2 routes 2.1 whidbey island 2.2 camano island 3 fleet 3.1 current bus fleet 4 references 5 external links history edit island transit was established in 1983 as a public transportation benefit area ptba a type of municipal corporation in washington state for public transit agencies . the island county board of commissioners proposed the creation of a ptba in september 1980 using a 0.3 percent sales and use tax to fund a bus system . the sales tax was part of two countywide votes in 1980 and 1982 where it was twice rejected . following the second defeat the boundaries of the ptba were re drawn to exclude part of northern whidbey island and all of camano island . the sales tax and transit system was approved by 56.5 percent of voters in a third ballot measure held on november 8 1983 within the revised boundaries . 2 3 a lawsuit was filed in 1985 challenging the revision of ptba boundaries prior to the third vote with the appellants from northern whidbey arguing that their constitutional rights of equal protection and equal suffrage were deprived because of their inability to vote on the measure . the following year the washington supreme court upheld the ptba s boundary revision allowing it to begin collecting sales tax that was authorized by the vote . 2 3 the ptba renamed itself island transit and began operating fare free service on december 1 1987 2 4 with four bus routes covering oak harbor and southern whidbey island vanpool service to the boeing everett factory and contracted dial a ride service . 5 in march 1992 island transit became the first agency in the state of washington to operate paratransit service required by the new americans with disabilities act . later that year northern whidbey island was annexed into the ptba district after approval from voters ; service to northern whidbey island began the following march . camano island voters approved annexation into the island transit district on may 16 1996 after trial service to the island that began in january . 2 the agency opened its first transit center located in oak harbor in december 1996 . 6 the passage of initiative 695 in november 1999 eliminated the use of motor vehicle excise tax a funding source for local transit throughout the state including 60 percent of island transit s annual fixed revenue . by the end of the year intra county service to mount vernon and saturday service on whidbey island were both cancelled and 13 employees were laid off . 2 12 in may 2000 a 0.3 percent sales tax increase for island transit was approved bringing the total tax to 0.6 percent . 7 saturday service was restored in august and a new route to mount vernon began in july 2001 . intra county service was expanded in september 2005 with the establishment of the county connector network by island transit skagit transit and whatcom transit authority with routes from whidbey island to mount vernon as well as camano island to mount vernon and everett station . 2 12 8 the sales tax was increased once again to 0.9 percent in 2009 by voters amidst the great recession and declining sales tax revenue . 9 routes edit whidbey island edit route 1 oak harbor to clinton via coupeville greenbank south whidbey state park freeland and bayview route 3 east oak harbor shuttle oak harbor to gravel pit via crescent harbor road route 6 oak harbor to coupeville ferry terminal via coupeville fort casey route 7 langley shuttle clinton to bayview via langley ; some trips extended to freeland route 10 central oak harbor shuttle route 12 west oak harbor shuttle route 58 south whidbey shuttle ken s korner to honeymoon bay via langley bayview and freeland route 58 express scatchet head to clinton route 411w county connector oak harbor to march s point via troxell ducken ; connection to skagit transit camano island edit route 1c west camano island terry s corner to camano plaza lost lake cama beach chapman and huntington route 2c east camano island terry s corner to shuskan via windermere elger bay route 3c terry s corner to stanwood ; connection to community transit route 411c county connector terry s corner to mount vernon via stanwood route 412c county connector terry s corner to everett station ; 2 cash only fare applies fleet edit current bus fleet edit as of august 2016 update 1 20 manufacturer model year fleet numbers qty . capacity fuel type notes gillig phantom 35 2001 0114 114 116 3 35 diesel 2003 0118 118 1 phantom 40 2007 0119 119 123 5 43 advantage 40 2009 0124 124 125 2 2011 0126 126 129 4 41 goshen gcii 2009 0250 250 259 9 21 258 is retired . arboc spirit of mobility 2010 0260 260 264 5 21 eldorado aero elite 2006 0400 400 409 9 21 401 is retired . references edit a b transit development plan 2016 2021 pdf report . island transit . august 26 2016 . retrieved september 18 2016 . a b c d e f transit history at a glance pdf . island transit . retrieved september 17 2016 . a b john m. fakkema et al. v. island county public transportation benefit area . supreme court of washington . retrieved september 18 2016 via google scholar . planning research and public transportation division 1989 . public transportation systems in washington state 1988 summary pdf report . washington state department of transportation . p. 59 . retrieved september 18 2016 . planning research and public transportation division december 1990 . public transportation systems in washington state 1989 summary pdf report . washington state department of transportation . p. 23 . retrieved september 18 2016 . public transportation and rail division september 1997 . public transportation systems in washington state 1996 summary pdf report . washington state department of transportation . pp. 51 52 . retrieved september 18 2016 . lange larry july 6 2007 . free bus service is it viable . seattle post intelligencer . retrieved september 18 2016 . transit starts connecting off island tuesday . whidbey news times . september 3 2005 . retrieved september 18 2016 . stensland jessie august 19 2009 . transit wins vance loses in island county primary . whidbey news times . retrieved september 18 2016 . external links edit official website v t e mass transit in the puget sound region local and express bus community transit list of routes everett transit intercity transit island transit king county metro list of routes fleet facilities kitsap transit pierce transit skagit transit sound transit express light rail link light rail list of stations central link tacoma link future extensions east link federal way link lynnwood link northgate link streetcar seattle streetcar first hill streetcar south lake union streetcar waterfront streetcar discontinued commuter rail sounder bus rapid transit rapidride a b c d e f swift blue green ferry guemes island ferry king county water taxi kitsap transit foot ferry steilacoom anderson island ferry washington state ferries monorail seattle center monorail other downtown seattle transit tunnel orca card sea tac airport satellite transit system trolleybuses in seattle italics denote lines or services which are planned under construction or otherwise not operating at the present time . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title island transit washington & oldid 740887874 categories bus transportation in washington state transportation in island county washingtonzero fare transport servicestransit agencies in washington state hidden categories articles containing potentially dated statements from august 2016all articles containing potentially dated statements navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 24 september 2016 at 00 02 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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