Opinion: The fare box costs more than it collects. Make the bus free.

Every weekday morning, buses on the Route 12 corridor spend an average of 38 seconds at each stop. Roughly a third of that time is passengers paying.

The transit agency's own figures show that fare collection costs $6.1 million a year in equipment, enforcement and cash handling, while fares bring in $7.4 million.

That leaves a net of $1.3 million, or about 1.2% of the agency's operating budget. We are spending enormous effort to protect a rounding error.

Cities that have gone fare-free, including Kansas City and Olympia, report ridership increases of 20 to 30% and faster boarding times.

Faster boarding means buses complete more trips with the same drivers, which is the only kind of efficiency gain that actually matters to riders.

The council should fund a two-year fare-free pilot on the four busiest routes and measure ridership, travel time and operating cost.

If the numbers hold, extend it. If they do not, we will have lost very little.