Does making public transportation free automatically cause a net benefit? Debate is split and seems highly contingent on cultural context. Image by flickr user Velobry.
A quick look at some of the things that make free public transportation work (or not):
Arguably, the most successful free public transportation initiatives in the world: Hasselt, Belgium
Year free public transportation was first implemented there: 1996
Cost per household to implement free transportation in Hasselt: 22.64 Euros ($32 USD)
Urban bus rides per year before free public transportation in Hasselt: 331,551
After free public transportation: 3,200,000
Percentage of bus users that are new bus users: 37%
Percentage that were former bus users: 63%
Percentage that were former car drivers: 16%
Typical farebox recovery rate in small US transit systems: <10%
Percentage increase in ridership with 100% decrease in fares: 30%
Cost of collecting fares from transit riders in New York City: $200 million
Percentage drop in transit ridership for every 10% increase in fares: 3.8%
Cost of collecting fares in Skagit Transit in Washington State: $133,385
Total fares collected on Skagit Transit: $121,300
Last large metropolitan city in North America to try free transit: Austin, Texas
Percentage ridership increase: 75%
Cost per rider in Austin, Texas prior to fare-free experiment: $2.51
Cost per rider during 15 months of fare-free: $1.51
Percentage increase in auto-users using free bus service: 0%
Number of physical assaults before fare-free: 44
Percent of Austin transit drivers who petitioned to discontinue free transit program: 75%
7 Comments
Pimp my ride. Here in Ogden, Utah, after getting body slammed over trying to start the world’s first ‘real’ urban gondola, our tiny perfect mayor wondered if maybe WhamBamTram was the answer. To gauge public acceptance, council spent nearly $200k to buy and tart a couple of used buses into looking like trams and run them between the local commuter rail hub and downtown. Even with free rides, next to the Maytag repairman, its drivers are the loneliest guys on the planet.
Transit, free or not, just ain’t in our culture.
dave, did you ride this free tram bus?
I’ve ridden it several times, Frankie. I classify myself as one of driver-Shawn’s ‘regulars’.
My question exactly.
Seattle has free bus service downtown (started in the ’70’s, called the Magic Carpet Zone by its designers). Every few years people try and remove it, claiming it complicates payment and lets the homeless ride. But I can only imagine how much it would slow down service during rush hour to make everyone wait for that one guy searching his backpack for change.
We still collect fares for everywhere except trips from downtown to downtown, but you pay on the far side (pay as enter on the way to downtown, pay as you leave on the way away from downtown). This way you’re paying at the lightly used stops, not at the hubs.
“Percent of Austin transit drivers who petitioned to discontinue free transit program: 75% ”
Why so much ?
From what I read it had to do with the fact that the increase in ridership correlated with an increase in violent behavior.