Based on a 20 percent increase in ridership during last month's free-ride experiment, the City of Charlottesville will now consider making the switch to fare-free buses permanent.
The Charlottesville Transit Service began offering fare-free transit on its buses last month as part of an experiment to make the transit system more competitive with automobiles, City Councilor Dave Norris said.
"It's a way to test whether we'd see any significant increase in ridership," Norris said. "If you look at the two most successful transit systems in Charlottesville, they are UTS and our trolley, both of which are fare-free."
Norris said city officials will review the results of the recent experiment and consider whether to make the change permanent.
Councilor Kevin Lynch said the 20 percent increase in riders since the change took place allows CTS to achieve its goal of increasing ridership.
"For the past decade now, one of our priorities has been to increase ridership on CTS and we've been fairly successful in growing CTS by double digits every year," Lynch said. "We needed a strategy that would maintain double digit growth into the next decade."
Lynch said the city could reduce the financial burden for lower-income residents by permanently offering fare-free transit.
"For people who are dependent on the bus system, having the system be free certainly makes living in Charlottesville more affordable," Lynch said.
Lynch and Norris pointed out that this increased ridership could also translate into a reduction in the number of automobiles on the road, decreased traffic congestion and lower harmful emissions.
"Certainly there are environmental advantages when you can take 30 single-occupancy vehicles and replace them with one bus," Norris said.
Lynch also noted that the cost of oil has more than quadrupled in the past four years.
"If it were to quadruple again, clearly that would be catastrophic," Lynch said, adding that he believes localities are better able to prepare for potential problems than the federal government. "We certainly have to have a contingency in the event that it does."
Norris said the move to fare-free transit on CTS buses will not be without cost, noting that last year the city collected around $400,000 in fares. He added, however, that the payoff will be less money spent on road maintenance and construction.
"It's literally pennies on the dollar compared to what we're spending and looking to spend on new roads, so it's just a smart use of taxpayer dollars with pretty extensive benefits for the communities."
Norris added that there should also be improvements to the reliability of bus schedules and that routes should be extended to cover more of the city.
"I'm confident that we can see substantial gains ... and that is going to benefit all of us," he said.
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