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The COVID-19 pandemic revealed to the District of Columbia and other big cities that public transportation was a lifeline for important workers and that even small fares could be prohibitive for them. Consequently, the nation’s capital is presenting a revolutionary plan: beginning next summer, people will receive free bus rides.
Other cities, notably Los Angeles and Kansas City, Missouri, suspended fare collection at the height of the pandemic to reduce human contact and ensure that inhabitants with no other means of transportation could reach employment, services, and hospitals.
But D.C.’s permanent free fare plan will be by far the largest, arriving at a time when major cities like Boston and Denver, as well as states like Connecticut, are adopting broader zero-fare policies to increase equity and assist recoup ridership lost to the rise of remote and hybrid work. In 2020, Los Angeles eliminated fares before recently reinstituting them. Recently, LA Metro has been piloting a fare-capping proposal in which transport customers pay for journeys until they reach a predetermined monetary number and then travel for free; however, new Mayor Karen Bass has expressed support for completely eliminating prices.
On July 1, 2022, bus fares will be waived in Washington, D.C.
AP
The free fare system in Washington, D.C., is a promising test case for reshaping public transportation for a post-pandemic future, according to analysts.
“If D.C. demonstrates that it increases ridership, reduces the cost burden for people with lower incomes, improves the quality of transit service in terms of bus service speed, and reduces the number of cars on the road, this could be a resounding success,” said Yonah Freemark, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute. We just do not yet know if that would occur.
Beginning approximately July 1, the $2 ticket will be waived for passengers boarding Metrobuses within the city limits. In last week’s overwhelming approval of the proposal, the D.C. Council also decided to expand bus service to 24 hours on 12 main downtown routes, which will benefit nightlife and service workers who previously relied on expensive ride-share services to go home after the Metro subway and bus system closed.
A new $10 million fund dedicated to annual expenditures in bus lanes, shelters, and other upgrades in Washington, D.C. was also approved to increase the speed and reliability of transportation.
“The District is prepared to be a national leader in the future of public transportation,” said D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen, who first proposed free fares in 2019 and claims the program can be completely funded with excess D.C. tax money. About 85 percent of bus passengers are D.C. residents. Maryland and Virginia suburbs are also served by the Metro system.
According to the council’s financial analysis, around 68% of D.C. residents who ride the bus have household incomes below $50,000, and riders are disproportionately Black and Latino compared to Metrorail users.
Not everyone supports free public transportation in the nation’s capital.
AP
Not everyone likes it.
Peter Van Doren, a senior scholar at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., said the strategy risks high costs and uneven results, noting that the chance to increase bus ridership may be limited because bus ridership has returned to pre-pandemic levels more quickly. Because not everyone has easy access to public transit, which operates on defined lines, he argued that government subsidies to help low-income individuals own vehicles would go further.
“The beauty of automobiles is that they can travel anywhere and everywhere, whereas public transportation cannot,” he explained. We do not know the subset of low-income individuals in Washington, D.C. for whom public transportation is an excellent alternative.
The action, which will be completed by a second vote later this month, was made despite the reservations of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who supported the notion of free tickets but questioned the $42 million yearly cost in the long run. She noted in a letter to council members, “District residents and taxpayers will pay for this initiative.” Our neighbors, Virginia and Maryland, should bear a portion of these expenditures because their citizens will also benefit from this program.
Allen also suggested a $100 monthly transit subsidy for District of Columbia residents to access the Metrorail system, but deferred the concept until at least the fall of 2024 due to the estimated yearly cost of $150 million. He called free bus fares as a “win-win-win” for the District, since they will help the transit system recover, provide affordable, environmentally-friendly transportation, and stimulate downtown economic activity.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which now confronts a $185 million financial deficit, which it attributes in part to fare evasion, praised the initiative as “courageous.” The company expressed its eagerness to collaborate with the city council, the mayor, and regional stakeholders “toward our aim of providing more accessible and equitable service to our clients.”
In 2019, fares accounted for nearly forty percent of overall transit revenue, but after the pandemic, that proportion has decreased to twenty-five percent.
AP
While transit usage has restored to approximately 79% of pre-pandemic levels nationwide, this percentage varies greatly by location. Janno Lieber, the chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City, has suggested that city and state governments pay for trains and buses more like essential public services, such as the fire department, citing the millions of transit riders he believes will never return. In 2019, fares accounted for more than forty percent of total transit revenue, but this figure has subsequently dropped to twenty-five percent, resulting in an expected $2.5 billion deficit in 2025 and the possibility that the transportation authority may soon exhaust its federal COVID relief funds.
In Washington, D.C., where bus fares account for only 7% of total transit operating revenues, the transit agency may be able to absorb losses from zero fares more easily, according to Art Guzzetti, vice president of mobility initiatives and public policy for the American Public Transportation Association. In addition to lowering automobile congestion and eliminating the need for transit enforcement against fare evaders, he cited savings for municipal taxpayers from accelerating boarding, which would allow for more routes and stations.
Currently, daily bus ridership in Washington, D.C. is approximately 74% of pre-pandemic levels, compared to 40% for Metrorail.
Free tickets can still be a difficult choice for cities. “If you have less money to spend in frequent service as a result of a zero-fare scheme, then you’re moving backwards,” Guzzetti said.
In Kansas City, which began offering free bus rides in March 2020 and has no expiration date planned, officials say the program has contributed to a 13% increase in ridership in 2022 compared to the previous year. According to Cindy Baker, interim vice president of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, who describes the program as a success, the free fares equate to a $8 million revenue loss, with the city covering more than half and federal COVID funds covering the remainder through 2023.
According to the organization, the initiative has eliminated altercations between passengers and bus drivers over fares, but there have been more passenger disagreements due to an increase in homeless customers. Baker stated that the transit agency had increased security in response to concerns from passengers.
Ché Ruddell-Tabisola, director of government affairs for the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, applauded free fares as a much-needed economic boost, demonstrating Washington, D.C.’s commitment to the well-being of late-night bartenders and restaurant workers who require an inexpensive way home.
“Many industries have moved on from the epidemic, but for D.C.’s bars and restaurants, it continues daily,” he added, noting the effects of hybrid work, inflation, gun violence, and other issues that have hollowed out the city. “Anything that encourages diners to visit downtown Washington, D.C. to enjoy our world-class restaurants and entertainment is a good thing.”
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