A Drive For More Money -- Shuttle Express Seeks Fare Increase

Shuttle Express, a three-county van service that transports travelers to and from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, has asked the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission for a fare increase averaging $1.60 a trip.

Fares now range from $14 to $28 depending on location in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.

"We need the money to pay for new vans and to begin an employee profit-sharing plan," said Jim Sherrill, Shuttle Express president.

The state limits profits for services such as Shuttle Express to 7 percent of sales, Sherrill said. Last year, the private company's profit was $230,000, or 3.5 percent, on sales of $7 million.

Sherrill, former owner of the now-defunct San Juan Airlines, founded Shuttle Express in the fall of 1987. It operates 80 vans, including 20 new ones added last year and 21 that will be delivered next week. Headquartered at 805 Lenora St., it employs 180 drivers and about 230 others as reservation agents, mechanics and office workers.

Its blue-and-gold vans pick up and deliver customers to and from their homes or offices for the airport trip. The company last year carried 450,000 passengers and installed a $110,000 computerized reservation system. It has been profitable the past 2 1/2 years, Sherrill said.

It already pays medical benefits for employees. "We have open management within the company, but employees are missing out on profit-sharing," Sherrill said. "We want to include them." He said state auditors are examining the company's books and could approve a fare increase in late April.