'Brag About It': Worcester Area Buses Will Stay Free Into 2023

WORCESTER, MA — The Worcester Regional Transit Authority board Thursday voted to keep the region's bus system free until June 2023, when WRTA leaders will create a budget with the goal of sustaining the fare-free policy.

The WRTA free-fare policy began in March 2020 as a safety measure during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was set to expire on Dec. 31. But there was already a push to remove fares before the pandemic. The board has voted multiple times since then to keep the policy in place.

Although Thursday's vote was unanimous, several board members — the system covers 37 cities and towns in Worcester County — worried about paying for the program in the future. The approximately $3 million in annual fare revenue has been plugged using pandemic federal stimulus money.

WRTA administrator Dennis Lipka has said keeping the fare policy sustainable will be part of fiscal year 2024 budget discussions starting in February.

"Hopefully we get this process of deciding what to do about fares into the budgeting process in the spring ... where we can have the discussion in the context of what our total resource situation is going to be," Lipka said.

Sturbridge Town Administrator Robin Grimm suggested WRTA consider a sliding scale policy for fares — for example, keeping fares free for anyone who earns under $25,000.

"We're going to break," she said. "We're going to rely on politicians taking taxpayer money to pour into it."

WRTA board Chair Gary Rosen, a former Worcester city councilor, lamented the lack of advertising of the policy. The transit system's website only has a small line about the policy, which covers fixed-route buses and paratransit shuttles.

"We must do a better job over the next nine months publicizing we are zero-fare," he said. "We have to brag about it."

The fare-free policy has coincided with a rise in WRTA ridership since 2019. According to data Lipka shared with the board, ridership is on track to breach 3 million in 2022, which would be the highest in three years.

Ridership in 2022 was above 300,000 in May, June and July — the latest months data was available.

WRTA is one of the few transit systems in the nation with a fare-free policy. Kansas City's transit system has been free for several years, and the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority eliminated fares in March.