Federal employees can ride free on Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit and Mason Transit Authority during federal government shutdown
Kitsap Transit buses stage at the Bremerton Transportation Center with the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in the background.
As the federal government shutdown enters its fourth week, local transit agencies serving Kitsap, Pierce, and Mason counties will allow all federal employees who present their government-issued ID to ride free temporarily on all their services. The temporary fare waiver takes effect starting Friday, October 24, 2025. The waiver means federal employees who present their ID can ride fare-free on all services, including:
Kitsap Transit: Routed, Worker/Driver, Dial-A-Ride/On-Demand, ACCESS buses; Local Foot Ferry; Fast Ferry; and vanpools.
Pierce Transit: Bus, SHUTTLE paratransit, Runner, and Rideshare.
Mason Transit: Worker/Driver. Other services are already fare-free.
When the shutdown ends, the transit agencies plan to resume collecting fares from federal employees.
The federal government is the largest employer in Kitsap and Pierce counties, with Naval Base Kitsap (NBK) and Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) collectively employing about 100,000 people. Many of them commute to their work sites on public transit, and their fares are covered by the federal government in normal times. However, since the federal government shut down on October 1, 2025, federal workers have been unable to reload funds to their transit passes for rides in November.
“We recognize that many federal government employees in our community are essential and still on duty but may face loss of pay or commuting benefits during the shutdown,” said John Clauson, Executive Director of Kitsap Transit. “Supporting the federal workforce is the right thing to do, and we believe this provides some relief to workers and their families.”
“This initiative reflects our values of community support and partnership, assisting federal workers who may be forgoing pay and facing other challenges during this shutdown,” said Pierce Transit CEO Mike Griffus. “Pierce Transit always steps up to help when our community needs us, and we are happy to do that again with these fare-free rides.”
“MTA is happy to support the staff of PSNS in whatever way we can while they continue to work without pay,” said Mason Transit Authority General Manager Amy Asher.
Customers who have questions are advised to contact the customer service office of the transit agency that operates the services they ride.
Agency contacts
Kitsap Transit: Sanjay Bhatt, Marketing Director, sanjayb@kitsaptransit.com, 360.824.4926
Pierce Transit: Rebecca Japhet, Communications Director, rjaphet@piercetransit.org, 253.377.5436
Mason Transit: Amy Asher, General Manager, aasher@masontransit.org, 360.432.5755