Sacramento fare-free program doubles youth ridership

SACRAMENTO, CA – The Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) announced today that student ridership has doubled since implementing the fare-free program for youth/students in grades transitional kindergarten (TK) to 12th. SacRT launched the RydeFreeRT program in October 2019, which offers youth/students access to the entire SacRT network, including buses, light rail and SmaRT Ride on-demand microtransit service, for free

https://www.ecosacramento.net/2020/02/regional-transit-fare-free-program-for-youth-is-a-success/ 

Remove cars and cycling goes up 20%. Imagine what #freepublictransit can do

Bike use up 20% in ONE week on Market St, after going private car free.

I love to see it. https://t.co/sNPIfK5NGG

— Matt Haney (@MattHaneySF) February 6, 2020

Bay Area Transit Riders Union?

Suggestion of starting a Transit Riders Union generates interest.

Does Berkeley have a Transit Riders Union?

— Darrell Owens (@IDoTheThinking) January 30, 2020

Palo Alto, CA, PTC Commisioner, supports #farefree #publictransit

@cari_templeton

Candidate for California Senate supports #freepublictransit

I'm not your typical candidate. I'm a young woman of color. I work in the service industry to supplant my income. Sometimes I sleep in my van. But all these experiences mean I will push for change like my life depends on it. Because it does. #Jackie2020https://t.co/Frmfd91Gmy

— Jackie Fielder 傑基 菲爾德 (@JackieFielder_) November 26, 2019

Chico 350 supports #freetransit

Kansas City Chooses Free Public Transit https://t.co/718h00r1pY

— Chico CA 350 (@ca_350) December 10, 2019

Perspicacious candidate for Campbell City Council calls for #freetransit @lopezforca

I’ve had discussions with policymakers who argue that a better approach to improving our service is to offer cheaper fares to those who can least afford it, while charging those who can afford it a higher price, allowing this latter group to subsidize the service for other riders. This approach, known as means testing (and which is pretty close to what VTA already does), makes sense if you think the purpose of public transit is to eke out a bit more money, more efficiently. But if you believe in getting as many drivers out of their cars to combat climate change, or in improving our economic climate by allowing more working class residents to easily get to and from work without requiring them to own a car, this paradigm makes much less sense than making transit free altogether.

https://sanjosespotlight.com/lopez-make-transit-free-in-silicon-valley/