Free King County Metro Bus Tickets Now Available for Students in Need

Date posted: August 6, 2025  Author:

Decorative banner with light blue and medium blue background. The right side of the image features text reading: "Free Metro Bus Tickets! Available for eligible low-income and/or homeless BC students. Below the text are the logos for Bellevue College Multicultural Services, United Way Benefits Hub, and King County Metro. The left side of the image features a drawing of a green city bus with the words "Bellevue College" on the front.

Bellevue College’s Multicultural Services and United Way Benefits Hub are excited to announce that we have received a grant from King County’s Department of Community and Human Services to begin offering FREE KING COUNTY METRO BUS TICKETS for eligible students who are experiencing housing insecurity/homelessness or are otherwise low-income and in need of transportation access.

How to Get Tickets:

Step 1: Visit or Contact either Multicultural Services or Benefits Hub

  • Multicultural Services (MCS)
    • Location: L Building, Room 100-D
    • Summer Hours: Mon-Thu, 8:30AM-5PM
    • Email: mcs@bellevuecollege.edu
  • United Way Benefits Hub
    • Location: U Building, Room 217
    • Summer Hours: Mon-Thu, 9AM-12PM and 1PM-4PM
    • Email: benefitshub@bellevuecollege.edu

Step 2: MCS or Benefits Hub Staff will check your eligibility

  • What we need from you:
    • Your name and ctcLink ID number
    • Information about your:
      • Income level
      • Housing situation
      • Whether you receive other types of public assistance (Food Assistance/EBT, Apple Health/Medicaid, Unemployment, etc.)
  • **You are NOT required to bring documents proving your income or housing. We will happily accept verbal attestation of your income level and housing situation.
    • See the “Ticket Eligibility” section below for more specific details about eligibility.

Step 3: Pick up your bus tickets!

  • What will you receive?
    • One booklet containing 20 King County Metro bus tickets
      • Limit of one booklet per visit
      • No limit on number of visits to MCS/Benefits Hub
      • Tickets will expire at the end of December 2025
  • If you visit us in-person, you will receive your booklet of bus tickets right away!
  • If you contact us via email, you will need to stop by one of our offices in-person later to pick up your booklet of bus tickets.
    • Multicultural Services (MCS)
      • Location: L Building, Room 100-D
      • Summer Hours: Mon-Thu, 8:30AM-5PM
    • United Way Benefits Hub
      • Location: U Building, Room 217
      • Summer Hours: Mon-Thu, 9AM-12PM and 1PM-4PM

Questions?

If you have any questions or need additional support/resources, please visit or reach out to Multicultural Services or Benefits Hub:

  • Multicultural Services (MCS)
    • Location: L Building, Room 100-D
    • Summer Hours: Mon-Thu, 8:30AM-5PM
    • Email: mcs@bellevuecollege.edu
  • United Way Benefits Hub
    • Location: U Building, Room 217
    • Summer Hours: Mon-Thu, 9AM-12PM and 1PM-4PM
    • Email: benefitshub@bellevuecollege.edu

For more info about the most convenient bus routes to and from Bellevue College, check out the Campus Transportation Map

Bellevue College has many other useful resources available for current students who are low-income and/or experiencing housing insecurity. Follow the links below for more information about what they each offer and how to get in touch.

Bellevue College Resources:

Ticket Eligibility:

Free King County Metro bus tickets are available for any current Bellevue College students who are experiencing housing insecurity/homelessness or are otherwise low-income and in need of transportation access to services that are critical to personal and residential stability such as: housing assistance, food assistance, economic assistance, family support services, education/job training, employment, healthcare, behavioral health, crisis intervention, or legal assistance.

King County defines homelessness as:

  • A household who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, meaning:
    • A household with a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including; a car, a park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport, or camping ground; or
    • A household living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements (including congregate shelters, transitional housing, and hotels and motels paid for by charitable organizations or by federal, State, or local government programs for low-income individuals); or
    • An individual who is exiting an institution where he or she resided for 90 days or less and who resided in an emergency shelter or place not meant for human habitation immediately before entering that institution; or
  • Any household who:
    • Is fleeing, or is attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or other dangerous or life-threatening conditions that relate to violence against the individual or a family member, including a child, that has either taken place within the individual’s or family’s primary nighttime residence or has made the individual or family afraid to return to their primary nighttime residence;
    • Has no other residence; and
    • Lacks the resources or support networks, e.g. family, friends, and faith-based or other social networks, to obtain other permanent housing.

King County defines low-income as:

  • For single adults or families, having income at or below 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), as detailed below:
Table outlining the maximum income levels to be considered "low-income" in King County, Washington.

Last Updated August 6, 2025