Free bus rides an in the seat & ...

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... on the street report.

This is being done in Iowa City and is having impacts beyond who is riding the buses. The NYT went too look at the experiment in the midwest. The story starts out sounding like a joke. [Free link]

nytimes.com - Iowa city free buses

There was a psychiatrist, a librarian, a substitute teacher and a graduate student in biomedical engineering. There was an Amazon warehouse worker who’d just finished his night shift, and a man who’d lost his driver’s license because of an incident in Florida that he didn’t want to talk about.

They were all riding Iowa City’s buses one sunny November morning, and they were all amped about the same thing: That everyone got to ride for free.

Iowa City eliminated bus fares in August 2023 with a goal of lowering emissions from cars and encouraging people to take public transit. The two-year pilot program proved so popular that the City Council voted this summer to extend it another year, paying for it with a 1 percent increase in utility taxes and by doubling most public parking rates to $2 from $1.

/snips from the story

Ridership has surpassed prepandemic levels

People drove 1.8 million fewer miles on city streets

emissions dropped by 24,000 metric tons

on-time arrivals have increased by 13 percent.

not having to ask passengers for payment or transfers has led to less friction with riders.

I hope NYC's experience is as positive.

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