POULSBO — An idea to help low-income residents or transient people get around Kitsap County is facing resistance.

Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson, as member of the Kitsap Transit Board of Commissioners, wants the agency to give $135,000 annually to social service agencies in the form of bus tokens.

She said with ridership on a steady decline, Kitsap Transit needs to fill the empty seats anyway, and Kitsap Transit should set a policy to help transportation for the “most vulnerable.”

“I’m trying to shift that emphasis” from commuters to those in need, she said. She presented her idea at the Nov. 15 board meeting, suggesting the board allocate one-half of 1 percent of the sales tax revenue it receives.

Some services for the North End’s most vulnerable residents are located in Bremerton. They include Kitsap Community Resources, Georgia’s House shelter for homeless women and families,  and  the  only   severe- weather shelter in the county, at Bremerton Foodline.

Low-income residents, youth, seniors and disabled already qualify for half off the $2 fare or a $50 monthly pass. Erickson said an estimated $20,000 worth of tokens are purchased at full price by local social agencies, such as Kitsap Community Resources and the Salvation Army. Those agencies are struggling too.

“We need to get people riding the bus. Times are tough, and we can do both,” she said of filling empty seats with people who couldn’t otherwise afford it. Erickson said a “classic example” is helping get the homeless to shelters, especially during cold weather or storms.

Kitsap Transit’s $25 million budget largely depends on sales tax revenue to run its services. With the decline in the economy, less revenue from sales tax led the board to cut some services and raise fares last year. This combination, according to Service Development Director John Clauson, led to a “downturn in ridership.”

Kitsap Transit’s bus program averages about 210,000 riders per month, Clauson said, which is decreasing by small amounts each year. It also runs ferry, disabled access, worker/driver buses and van pool programs. Commuter services, including the ORCA fare card that serves Kitsap, King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, and the ACCESS bus are subsidized by Kitsap Transit.

Board Chairman Will Maupin said “between 5 and 15 percent of running a bus is paid for by fares.” When the agency increased fares and cut services, Maupin said many regular users said they would rather pay more for a ticket than see a cut in routes or services.

“Giving [money] to organizations to hand out to needy people sounds like a nice idea, but I don’t think it serves them as well as it does if we use the same money to maintain as much service as we can,” he said.

“We can immediately increase ridership by using transit tokens,” Erickson said in an online post. “This will begin to fill seats on buses that are now empty. We pay to run the buses. It will not cost [Kitsap Transit] anymore to run the buses with seats filled as when seats are empty.”

It is important to help those who without transit would find it difficult to get employment, said Bob Middlebrook, executive director of Sound Works, a job referral service in Poulsbo.

“Some go to Bremerton … to get referrals, or maybe they have to go to get a job or apply for a job,” he said. “Until they start getting money in, they need a way to get there.”

The board will discuss Erickson’s suggestion further at the Dec. 20 meeting.