Free Public Transit?

[The Journalist]

The majority of transit systems would be better off using fare income to run more service than making it free. There comes a point where it stops making sense to charge a fare, since doing so does have some potential downsides-the cost of doing so to begin with, buses stop longer, the fare being a barrier to use. But that point is likely farebox recovery in the single digits. Otherwise it's probably worthwhile to charge fares.

There are some corner cases where specific lines or service areas make sense to be free, say if the route is a feeder to a light rail line and almost everyone riding that route is transferring, or for a tourist-oriented circulator where the target market is significantly more likely to ride if they don't have to figure out how to pay for it.

A potential middle ground is not enforce fares at all and only intervene if the passenger is disruptive. This is an important point because there is substantial overlap between "didn't pay the fare" and "causes problems."

 

[Literalman]

"Literalman, upthread, describes a local transit system (in Alexandria, a close-in suburb of DC) that was free but not very useful, for him anyway" Sorry if I wasn't clear. The service was expanded at the same time it was made free, and the greatly increased frequency made it much more useful.

Yes, you have to make an appointment to get a Septa senior card at 1234 Market St. You might have to schedule it a month or more beforehand, so plan ahead. There is a nice transit museum there, which you can look at any time the office is open. It is alongside the eastbound 13th St. platform on the Market St. subway. When you walk along the platform you can see the PCC through the windows.

I've experienced inconsistent acceptance of my Septa senior card on other Pa. systems. It was readily accepted on the Harrisburg buses but not always on Red Rose Transit in Lancaster. I verified with Red Rose Transit that the Septa senior card is accepted, but some drivers don't cooperate. Boarding one bus, I said that we had Septa senior cards, and the driver said, "This isn't Septa." I explained that Red Rose headquarters had told me that the Septa senior card was good, and the Red Rose website says that other Pa. systems' senior cards are accepted.

 

[railiner]

I've experienced inconsistent acceptance of my Septa senior card on other Pa. systems. It was readily accepted on the Harrisburg buses but not always on Red Rose Transit in Lancaster. I verified with Red Rose Transit that the Septa senior card is accepted, but some drivers don't cooperate. Boarding one bus, I said that we had Septa senior cards, and the driver said, "This isn't Septa." I explained that Red Rose headquarters had told me that the Septa senior card was good, and the Red Rose website says that other Pa. systems' senior cards are accepted

It shouldn’t have to be that way. Since the state probably partially funds most of the public transit, perhaps they should issue a single statewide senior travel card?

 

[Literalman]

Yes, the senior transit trips are free because they are paid for by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A statewide senior transit card makes sense to me.

In response to another comment, the fare to ride to Trenton on Septa is $5. I have been charged that fare only once in the past year on a few trips to or from Trenton—even when I asked the conductor to sell me a ticket. But I bring money to pay the fare in case I need to.

 

[PaTrainFan]

It shouldn’t have to be that way. Since the state probably partially funds most of the public transit, perhaps they should issue a single statewide senior travel card?

Ideally, but compantibility with differing optical readers could be an issue.

 

[joelkfla]

Where I live in the Lehigh Valley of PA, the local bus system LANTA is free to seniors. You can apply for a pass by mail filling in a simple form. I have not used it much because the bus route through my town only runs 5 times a day and not on Sunday. With a 3 hour wait between buses that means you have to schedule around the runs like you were taking Amtrak. I feel a route has to run at least hourly to be at all useful.

I requested one online from Mid Mon Valley Transit to use in Pittsburgh, seeing as PRT doesn't take online or mail applications. I thought it was rather quaint: it's printed on light card stock, with the agency name rubber-stamped, and my name and 3-digit pass number hand-written in blue ballpoint. It arrived in a cute little plastic bifold protector.

I ended up not using it, because I decided to spend a couple of days in PHL first and got the SEPTA pass, which I used instead.

 

[joelkfla]

It shouldn’t have to be that way. Since the state probably partially funds most of the public transit, perhaps they should issue a single statewide senior travel card?

There is a standardized PA senior citizen transit ID card, which is what I got from Mid Mon Valley, and probably what the Red Rose driver wanted. But SEPTA & PRT issue versions of their own plastic passes instead, probably for farebox and faregate compatibility. PRT says they accept the state ID; SEPTA doesn't mention them.

 

[Stevenz]

• “The expense of collecting the fare is generally greater than the revenue generated from the fare.”

I have always suspected this. Thanks for posting it.

Another thing. Because transit has fare boxes people think it should - or can - pay for itself, thus resistance to subsidies. Fact is, all transportation modes are subsidised in some way. But urban transit has the least political support.

 

[cirdan]

There are some corner cases where specific lines or service areas make sense to be free, say if the route is a feeder to a light rail line and almost everyone riding that route is transferring, or for a tourist-oriented circulator where the target market is significantly more likely to ride if they don't have to figure out how to pay for it.

Personally I think such setups are often counter-productive.

It can be quite a challenge to arrive in a new city and have to figure out how the fare system works. In some cities you pay the driver and in others the driver gets angry if you think you can try that. Some cities have ticket machines. Some have apps. This is why it makes a system friendlier if you have more or less the same solution everywhere, across the board, across all cities, and doing the right thing becomes an ingrained reflex. Every free circulator is just another exception that is going to make the aggregate system more difficult to learn and understand, especially at the interface between the free part and the paying part.

 

[PaTrainFan]

• “The expense of collecting the fare is generally greater than the revenue generated from the fare.”

I have always suspected this. Thanks for posting it.

Another thing. Because transit has fare boxes people think it should - or can - pay for itself, thus resistance to subsidies. Fact is, all transportation modes are subsidised in some way. But urban transit has the least political support.

There was an influencial state legislator from the general area who a few years ago refused to vote for any state subsidies for public transportation, referring to it as a form of "public welfare." Interpret that as you will. Thankfully, his pursuit for higher office failed and he is no longer on the scene.

 

[cirdan]

• “The expense of collecting the fare is generally greater than the revenue generated from the fare.”

I have always suspected this. Thanks for posting it.

Another thing. Because transit has fare boxes people think it should - or can - pay for itself, thus resistance to subsidies. Fact is, all transportation modes are subsidised in some way. But urban transit has the least political support.

I think cases where the cost of collecting the fare quantitively exceeds the fare collected are more the exception than the rule and may reflect some inefficiency or some inappropriate choice of over-costly technology. This can be fixed and should not be accepted as inevitable.

A transit system relies on different funding structures including:
- fares and season tickets
- collection of fines and penalties
- subsidies
- advertising revenue
- ancilliary activities including private hire and contract work, management and commercialization of real estate, maintenance and technical services provided to third parties etc.

Every little bit counts.

Having different streams of revenue provides some sort of robustness and trying to shut any one of these down is exposing the entire system to more vagaries in the other streams.

Also, paying for a service, even if the payment covers only say 20% of costs incurred, is a proof of sorts that the service is required. You do something stupid and you lose that customer, you immediately also lose that income. This is direct feedback and motivates management to stay on the ball or suffer the consequences. If you disconnect that step you are incentivizing management to find excuses rather than solutions.

 

[cirdan]

There was an influencial state legislator from the general area who a few years ago refused to vote for any state subsidies for public transportation, referring to it as a form of "public welfare." Interpret that as you will. Thankfully, his pursuit for higher office failed and he is no longer on the scene.

I don't think one should have to run transit in a dumb way just because some individual doesn't understand it. Especially if said individual cannot be brought around to be supportive, no matter what you do. The tail shouldn't have to wag the dog.

Police and fire services are also "public welfare".

 

[BlackDiamond]

There is a standardized PA senior citizen transit ID card, which is what I got from Mid Mon Valley, and probably what the Red Rose driver wanted. But SEPTA & PRT issue versions of their own plastic passes instead, probably for farebox and faregate compatibility. PRT says they accept the state ID; SEPTA doesn't mention them.

Looking at my senior citizen transit card, I see that it is a standard form with "issuing agency" rubber stamped as "LANtaBus" so it appears to be a standard state document. Also states that it is funded by the state lottery. I guess I should feel guilty that I benefit from something that I don't contribute to since I don't play the lottery, as I see it as a form of voluntary taxation.

 

[Cal H]

This has been an interesting thread. Having gone around the country on a rail pass last year we were "treated" to only one city with free transit, that was Albuquerque. Our experience supports the original premise - if you've enough money to make it free, you have the monies to make it better. On arriving a couple hours late on Sunday PM from the Chief, city transit was already shut down. We did ride it over the next couple of days, but the day we left we couldn't see that the buses were running on any type of schedule. We therefore Uber'd back to the station for our trip out.

In our other city stops, New Orleans was tops - we ordered our transit passes ahead of time and they were good for any transit. San Francisco was the worst - as an outsider looking in it was a hot mess of different transit systems all requiring their own passes. Very confusing for us. Then there were the cities where we couldn't get passes ahead of time and had to search out kiosks or agents after arriving, very unfriendly to visitors.

One other comment. As a mostly lurker on the forum, and relatively new to Amtrak - a lot of comments on this thread concern specific cities. If your Avatar info doesn't tell me where you are located, odds are I don't know where you are talking about when you only refer to your transit system by initials. After enough comments I might figure it out, but then again...

 

[Trollopian]

"Literalman, upthread, describes a local transit system (in Alexandria, a close-in suburb of DC) that was free but not very useful, for him anyway" Sorry if I wasn't clear. The service was expanded at the same time it was made free, and the greatly increased frequency made it much more useful.

My fault, Literalman...you were clear; I skimmed too fast. Though living in the DC area, I seldom get to Alexandria, and I hope both the no-fare policy and the beefed-up service have survived.

The DC Circulator is an example of a local system, with a useful route map that intelligently supplemented rail and Metrobus, that ended its (fairly brief) no-fare policy then shut down operations for good. Which is a shame. It was a simple and popular service, with residents and tourists alike. To us railfans, the several routes originating at Union Station are especially mourned. Sure, Union Station also has a Metro stop, but the Circulator was a much, much better, no-transfer way to get to Georgetown, Congress Heights, or Navy Yard/Ballpark.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Circulator

 

[railiner]

ancilliary activities including private hire and contract work,

So long as they comply with this, right?

https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulat...service/charter-bus-service-rule-and-guidance

 

[Paniolo Man]

I continue to see discussion about "If they can afford free fare". I posted earlier about Connect Bus finding that charging a fare would cost more than it would return. In February 2022 the Utah Transit Authority piloted free fare for an entire month and wrote up a lengthy report on it. Ridership soared, around 80% of new riders said their reason for riding was free fare, and said they'd continue riding if it remained free. They saw the largest increases on the weekend. Making transit free really induces demand, which can lower the cost per trip and offset the lack of fare revenue.

 

[John Bredin]

I remember the Kansas City buses being free when I visited a year ago, which surprised me. I wasn't surprised the single streetcar line was free, as it's a downtown circulator from the train station to the public market (and various sights/sites inbetween). We took the buses once, to get to the art museum, and it was packed going south from downtown and fairly busy when we rode back.

I just looked it up and with a couple of exceptions the buses have been free since 2020 and will be free through at least the end of April 2025, by which time the KC city council would have to vote to continue running fareless.

 

[Maglev]

Transit, including Amtrak Cascades and ferries, is free for those 18 and younger within Washington state. I think this is a great way of introducing youth to the concept of relying on transit.

https://wsdot.wa.gov/about/news/2022/youth-can-ride-transit-free-most-washington

https://wsdot.wa.gov/about/news/2022/state-ferries-says-welcome-aboard-free-youth

https://amtrakcascades.com/washington-youth-fare-program-amtrak-cascades

 

[caravanman]

Sad to hear about the demise of the Circulator service in DC, I used that several times on visits to Washington.
There was a similar "Emery-go- round" service in Emeryville that was useful, but we annoyed the locals at rush hour with our luggage!
My pet transit gripe is more to do with the lack of "joined up" thinking and integration of services between local "competing" providers.