Boston Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge said the cost savings to users and increased ridership recorded halfway through the city’s fare-free bus pilot makes a strong case for removing fares on other forms of public transportation.
A city analysis, released Tuesday, showed 42% of riders using the three free bus routes in Mattapan, Roxbury and Dorchester saved money in the first year of the program. Twenty-six percent saved $20 or more in October, which could result in a two-year savings of $480.
Further, ridership increased by 35% on these three fare-free routes, 23, 28 and 29, from the fall of 2021 to fall 2022, compared to the 15% uptick seen throughout the MBTA system, the report stated.
“We’ve seen ridership growth on these three lines significantly outpace growth on the system as a whole,” Franklin-Hodge said. “And we’ve seen that growth be absorbed by the buses without increasing delay or reducing performance of the bus.
“All of which goes to show that a fare-free bus can be a better-performing bus when you don’t have that delay as people get on board. You can open up the doors and everybody just hops on.”
The city found that by removing payment, buses can take on more passengers without adding time to the trip, an important finding, he said, “if you look at it through the lens of how to make our transit system more reliable and consistent over time.”
“On the whole, we’re very happy with what we’re finding here,” Franklin-Hodge said. “We think it’s consistent with the hypothesis we went into this project with, that fare-free would deliver a variety of benefits to riders in the system as a whole.
“And we think this strengthens the case for really looking at removing the fare box on more of our transit services.”
What isn’t clear at this point in the two-year program, though, is what funding will become available to sustain the existing model, and a potential intercommunity expansion, Franklin-Hodge said.
The fare-free pilot on Routes 23, 28 and 29 is being funded through the city’s $8 million American Rescue Plan Act allocation, which is being used to reimburse the MBTA for the cost of running free buses.
Franklin-Hodge said $6 million of that funding was used for design and implementation of the pilot, leaving roughly $2 million for a potential expansion of the program.
“We have a bit of money that we had set aside as part of the original funding package that would be used to expand this beyond the three routes currently in the program to include an intermunicipal route, perhaps with one of our neighbors,” Franklin-Hodge said.
“So we’re in conversations with some of our surrounding communities about that. And as we look to next year, we are beginning our conversations with our partners at the state, with the governor’s office, with the MBTA and others about what a long-term funding strategy and programmatic strategy would look like.”
He pointed to support from Gov. Maura Healey, who spoke about her desire for a statewide fare-free bus initiative on the campaign trail.
Continuing to offer the current model for these three routes, two of which are the heaviest-traveled lines in the MBTA bus system, would cost about $3 million per year, Franklin-Hodge said.
Another municipality would pick up part of the tab with an inter-community expansion, based on a reimbursement formula that considers ridership levels and the percentage of riders who transferred to another service that isn’t free, he said.
“We’re still working through all the math of this, but ultimately, the source of city funding on the Boston side would continue to be ARPA,” Franklin-Hodge said.
The city is exploring partnerships with Chelsea, Everett and Cambridge, the latter of which formed a working group last year to explore a fare-free bus pilot based on Boston’s model, he said.
“We are actively working on a fare-free bus pilot based on the recommendations of our working group,” Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui said in a statement.
“We are focused on the number 1 bus route, a key connection between Cambridge and Boston serving a diverse population, and look forward to continued collaboration with the MBTA and the City of Boston.”
While 42% of riders saved money, the majority didn’t because they continued to transfer to other bus or subway lines or purchased monthly passes to maintain access to the broader network, the city analysis found.
This matches the findings of the MBTA’s fare policy team, which recommended in October that half-price fares for riders across the transit system would make more sense than fare-free buses.
A means-tested fare option would cost the T between $46 million and $58 million, but the cost to make all buses free would increase significantly to $94-$141 million, the agency said in October.
“The MBTA has received the report and is reviewing it.” T spokesperson Joe Pesaturo said. “The MBTA looks forward to continuing its partnership with the city on the existing program.”