A day of bus rides usually consists of a couple of dollars spent on the bus in the morning, a few extra dollars for any transfers and the fare home. After a few bus rides, the fares really begin to become substantial.

However, commuting to school and work just became easier and less expensive for all Washington U-PASS carriers.

As of last month, for the first time in U-PASS history, all U-PASS holders are able ride on any Central Puget Sound Transit Agency bus without paying a fare.

A partnership among U-PASS, Pierce Transit, Kitsap Transit, Everett Transit, King County Metro, Snohomish County Community Transit, Sound Transit buses and Sounder Commuter Rail has made this possible.

Now 6,000 students, staff and faculty can use the transit system for commuting who couldn’t before, and “that’s a big deal,” said Joshua Kavanagh, director of UW Transportation Services.

With lines running throughout the central Puget Sound area, most commuters who travel to any of the three UW campuses are covered.

Prior to the partnership, transportation, more specifically the U-PASS, was separate for each of the University of Washington campuses.

The reason for this change, said Kavanagh, is efficiency.

“We are looking for efficiency and more and more collaboration amongst addressing campus transportation issues,” he said.

U-PASS is planning to make numerous changes in the next few years to create a more efficient and cost effective program for students, faculty and staff.

“Bringing all the agencies together under U-PASS was important,” Kavanagh said. “Doing so at the University of Washington earlier than later will provide better information about how people are responding to the changes and how they are likely to use U-PASS.”

Junior Stacey Erickson from UW Bothell supports the efficiency of the new system.

“I guess that makes sense since we pretty much pay the same tuition, and we are all the same school but we are just at different locations,” she said.

Not all aspects regarding U-PASS and transportation are linked among the three campuses. Every campus still pays its own transportation costs, but the three schools are able to work together to control costs and keep them down.

No price increase to the U-PASS caused by the partnership has been foreseen, said Kavanagh.

The slight increase in price to $50 felt by UW Seattle students this fall was not due to this collaboration. The U-PASS fee went up primarily because King County metro raised its cost-per-boarding. The 17 percent price increase in Metro boarding cost was substantially more than the price increase for the U-PASS, Kavanagh said.

This is not to say U-PASS fees will not increase in the future, he said. User-supported programs, such as U-PASS, rely on users to help cover costs. As the cost of doing business goes up, so will the cost of transit. When bus fares increase once again, U-PASS fees will also increase.

“These are tough times economically,” said Kavanagh. “Dollars in wallets are fewer than before and don’t go as far as they did; anywhere we can help students, faculty and staff save money is good.”

Reach reporter Karleen Scharer at news@dailyuw.com.