As the fare-free movement gains momentum on Beacon Hill, many are touting free bus fares as a way to make public transit more accessible to low-income riders, while increasing its use during a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has dropped ridership to a historic low.
In gateway cities such as Lawrence and Worcester, pilot programs have already started gaining traction, with city officials lauding the positive impact free ridership has had on their most vulnerable populations.
Martha Velez, director of health and human services for the City of Lawrence, is one proponent of her city’s ride-free initiative.
Just a few months before the pandemic began, Lawrence adopted a pilot program that made three of the city’s most popular bus routes, which travel through the community’s most condensed areas, entirely free for all riders.
Velez said Lawrence residents have benefited exponentially from the program, which has provided some families with enough economic relief to buy groceries and other necessities, and allowed others access to jobs outside of their own neighborhoods.
“Why free? I think the question would be, ‘Why not?’ In a community where there are a lot of socio-economic issues and disparities, there are a lot of people struggling to see how they’re going to put food on the table,” Velez said Friday during WGBH’s virtual event, Can Free Buses Save Public Transit? “Why not offer this and see if it works?”
Shortly after implementing the program, Velez said her city saw an increase in ridership of 20,636 — a number that has dropped somewhat, but still remained relatively steady during the global public health crisis.
She added that making the three routes free to riders for two years has cost Lawrence, in total, about $225,000.
However, Laurel Paget Seekins, a public transportation expert, formerly of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), said a blanket-free rider initiative for buses doesn’t always address the nuances of public transportation and its use among riders.
Many riders don’t only use one mode of transportation when traveling, she said, and they often switch between buses, subways, and other forms of public transportation during a single trip, therefore rendering free bus ridership initiatives far less useful.
“I would love to live in a society where we had free, quality public transit, not just buses, but that is a significant public investment,” Seekins said. “Every single dollar or additional funding we add is a question of priorities. My first priority for additional funding is to serve the needs of low-income people for the entire network. For the MBTA, that includes trains, and so I think low-income fares is a better way of getting that.”
She said localized policies would allow communities to tailor transportation initiatives to their own needs.
“The cost in Lawrence was really quite low to provide a really big benefit to their riders, whereas in the City of Boston, the CharlieCards provide subway access, and bus access, and Bluebike access, so we’re thinking about it in a multimodal way,” she said.
Vineet Gupta, Boston’s director of transportation, said that in the state’s capital city, offering different free ridership options may ultimately entice riders back to the MBTA.
Three weeks ago, Boston launched a program offering 1,000 free MBTA and Bluebike passes to employees in small business districts. The MBTA passes are good for a $60 value, while the Bluebike passes can be used for two months.
Gupta said the program focuses on an equitable pandemic recovery by targeting small businesses and their employees, as well as low-income neighborhoods with high populations of people of color.
“These communities have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, and we wanted to make sure those neighborhoods got some attention with the program,” he said, adding: “The goal here is to incentivize people who are returning to work, and people who are driving to work to take public transportation, whether it’s the MBTA, or whether it’s Blue Bikes.
“We feel like this will provide incentives for people to change behavior as to how they travel, but it’ll also reduce congestion for people who do drive, and open up parking for customers in our small business districts.”
He added that the program, which received roughly 3,000 applications, is now closed due to high demand. The MBTA plans to evaluate the program in great detail to see where the riders come from, where they go, how often they use their passes, and to determine if their travel behavior changes.
“It’s important to mention (that this program) has to go hand in hand with improvements that we are doing for bus services,” said Gupta. “The city is working hand in hand with the MBTA. We are installing bus lanes and bus priority measures throughout our neighborhoods, and we believe that’s an important dimension of any program to incentivize the use of public transportation.”
