Beginning today, November 1, Archuleta County’s Mountain Express Transit (MET) will offer free rides to Veterans on the Pagosa Springs town route. …The County wishes to thank all service members for their noble service to our country…
— Archuleta County press release, Nov. 1, 2023
Public transportation, internationally, took a hit during the COVID crisis, as governments and media around the globe discouraged people from gathering with strangers in enclosed spaces…
…such gatherings being an essential element of public transit. In March 2020, public transit was serving about 180 million riders per week; by mid-April, the ridership had dropped to 38 million.
Now that COVID is a just an ordinary crisis like so many other crises, public transportation in the U.S. is working to get back up on its feet — serving the people who cannot afford or access private transportation, or who choose public transit for other reasons. As of March 2023, a slow increase in ridership had brought the number back up to about 140 million per week. Still not back to its previous levels.
One experiment taking place in Colorado over the past summer was the “Zero Fare for Better Air” program. The primary impetus behind the program was not, apparently, a revival of public transit ridership following COVID, but rather, an attempt to reduce ozone and smog in Colorado’s larger cities.
From the Colorado Association of Transit Agencies:
During the months of June, July and August of 2023, public transit agencies around the state of Colorado will join together to take part in the Zero Fare for Better Air initiative.
This collaborative, statewide initiative, made possible by Colorado Senate Bill 22-180, in partnership with the Colorado Energy Office, is designed to reduce ground level ozone by increasing use of public transit. Transit riders will benefit from the program as many transit agencies, including RTD, allow riders to take transit this summer, during Colorado’s high ozone season.
We hope you enjoy taking advantage of Zero Fare Summer to try transit to get to work, school, a Doctor’s appointment, or a weekend exploring Colorado.
Archuleta County’s public transit system, known as Mountain Express Transit, was one of 16 Colorado agencies participating in “Zero Fare Summer”. The MET offered free fares on a flexible fixed route to Durango via Arboles, weekly on Thursdays, serving the Durango Airport, Mercy Regional Hospital, and certain governmental services not offered in Archuleta County. The MET also offered free fares on a fixed route within the greater Pagosa Springs area, while the Zero Fare program allowed everyone to ride free.
The program ended on September 1.
But as of November 1, the MET is now offering “Zero Fares” to military veterans, following a decision last month by the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners. This is in addition to a program that allows senior citizens (age 60 and older) to ride the MET for free.
I understand the desire to honor elders, and veterans, by providing free or discounted services for them.
But would Archuleta County be wise to initiate its own all-year “Zero Fare” program, for everyone? We don’t have a pronounced ozone problem here, but we do have — like other resort communities in Colorado — a pronounced ‘cost of living’ problem.
I met with County Transportation Director Kevin Bruce a few days ago, to discuss the “Zero Fares” idea, in a larger context.
Mr. Bruce was promoted to the position of MET director in February 2023, following the resignation of previous director Laura Vanoni. Ms. Vanoni had obtained a grant to fund “Zero Fares” for the month of August, 2022, partly as an experiment to determine whether the modest bus fares were discouraging ridership. Mr. Bruce continued the experiment last summer, when the MET applied for the “Zero Fare for Better Air” program.
The results of the experiment were summarized by Mr. Bruce at a Archuleta Board of County Commissioners meeting last month, illustrated by several graphs.
Here, for example, is a chart created by the MET staff comparing the ridership during the summer months in 2022 and 2023. The only month of 2022 (blue) that offered “zero fares” was August. In 2023 (black), June, July and August were all “zero fare” for all riders. As we can see, the July 2023 ridership was almost doubled, compared the the previous year, and June and August also saw significant increases.
This chart could be interpreted as showing a huge increase in MET traffic based simply on the “Zero Fare” program. However, that’s not the full story. The MET expanded its routes from June through September to serve Aspen Springs — a neighborhood that had not previously seen MET service. July was a particularly active month for the Aspen Springs route, with 100 rides provided.
The “Zero Fare for Better Air” grant also provided funding for print, online and radio advertising. It appears, from County budget documents, that MET spent about $1,800 advertising the zero fares. (Disclosure: The Daily Post was not among the outlets paid to advertise.)
It would be difficult to find any other community service or business in Pagosa Springs that basically doubled its patronage in the summer of 2023… compared to the summer of 2022 when the town was overrun with tourists.
This “Zero Fare” program this summer did not put a financial burden our local governments; the subsidies were provided by the state government through the Colorado Energy Office.
But would Archuleta County benefit from a transit system that offered free rides, year round, for everyone? That is to say, would the citizens benefit? Would the economy benefit?
I asked Archuleta County Commissioner Ron Maez to share some thoughts about that possibility. He noted that the BOCC has already approved zero fares for veterans, but said he would need to see more data, before he could make a good decision on zero fares for everyone.
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea, as long as it’s financially feasible…
“We all know, when you throw something out for free, everybody jumps on it…”
I mentioned to Commissioner Maez that the predicted revenue from bus fares — now that seniors and veterans are riding for free — is projected to be around $7,000 a year, according to Mr. Bruce.
Is that something the County could cover, within its $50 million annual budget?
Would that make our community a better place?