The move has potential to advance equity, reduce emissions and relieve congestion
Mobility is everything. The ability to get from point A to B means getting to a job, securing food, and accessing education, health care or assistance in any form. In a larger sense, it means the vibrancy of a community and the fulfillment of commerce. It is a fundamental element of a successful region like the Portland metro area.
And it’s time for us to explore what it would mean to have a fareless public transit system.
This proposition has major implications – economic, social and environmental – for riders and nonriders alike, which should be considered when deciding the future course of our region’s mobility.
First and foremost, we have to stop thinking of it as a radical idea. It’s not.
Chapel Hill Transit in Chapel Hill, N.C., is a free service, providing more than 7 million rides per year. It’s been fare-free since 2002.
In 2013, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia became the first major European city (population 400,000) to make its public transit system fareless, joining two dozen cities in France and the country of Luxembourg with public, free transit for their residents.
The mayor of Paris is reportedly looking into a similar move to address congestion and pollution. It recently made public transit free for children under age 11. Other metropolitan areas in Europe are considering similar changes, while looking cautiously to see how the experiment plays out elsewhere.
Dunkirk went fare free last year, and ridership has increased significantly. And there are other benefits as well.
“Not only are we redistributing spending power,” Dunkirk Mayor Patrick Vergriete said, according to the English-language French news site The Local . “But we are getting rid of inequalities by providing better access to jobs and leisure facilities.”
Luxembourg’s minister for mobility and public works François Bausch told the BBC : “It is primarily a social measure. The objective is to stop the deepening gap between rich and poor. For people on low wages, transport expenses matter. Therefore it is easier to make it free for everyone.”
In Portland, the movement for a fare-free system has been championed by OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon for years as a more equitable service for all residents.
Reforming our transportation lens would feed into the region’s environmental mission – to reduce emissions, encourage green energy, promote vegetation over pavement and combat climate change.
Among the goals are that 80% of residents will be able to easily walk or bike to meet all of their basic non-work needs and have safe access to transit, compared to 65% as of 2017. Included in the plan is to ensure that low-income populations and communities of color will equitably benefit from climate actions and investments and that residents and businesses will be motivated to change their behavior in ways that reduce carbon emissions.
A fareless public system would infuse a new dynamic to these efforts.
Because public transit is integral to the area’s overall transportation network, motorists have a direct stake in this, too. Congestion is not only aggravating, but it’s expensive.
According to the 2019 Urban Mobility Report , an annual accounting by Texas A&M Transportation Institute, congestion cost Portland area auto commuters $1.65 million last year, averaging nearly $1,200 per person. That’s time and gasoline spent above normal commuting times.
Collectively, that’s 88 million additional hours of our lives and 40 million additional gallons of fuel spent wasted on our highways because of congestion. That’s now, with a scant 2.3 million people in the Portland metro area. We’re expected to top 3 million in 2040.
These are tangible – and inevitably rising – costs absorbed by motorists that could be offset by an incentivized public transit system.
And there are the less obvious but equally tangible costs absorbed by taxpayers and individuals as they are processed through the court system on fare violations and exclusions. What a senseless exercise. While TriMet’s own survey indicates only a small percentage of fare evaders said they didn’t have the money, we want to see the numbers of people who don’t ride at all because they can’t afford to, or have been excluded. The price of the fare is a deterrent to many low-income riders, whether it’s totally prohibited or absorbs resources for other needs.
Yet this is the direction we head: TriMet announced in October it was going to add nine additional fare inspectors to increase efforts to catch fare evaders. It’s a problem the transit company said weighs significantly on riders’ minds – a claim riders turned out in droves on social media to protest. On the heels of that announcement came posters on TriMet vehicles that seemed intended to whip up the aforementioned resentment against fare evaders. They were insulting to riders who struggle to make ends meet, for whom a $5 day pass is a significant financial commitment, not a whimsical indulgence like a slice of pizza or an after-work cocktail.
A fareless public transportation system will not survive without correlating measures in place, including the cost of driving, a commitment to environmental conservation and a good network. But we have fertile ground for this to take hold. And in TriMet, we already have a great public transit system.
TriMet does offer low- and no-income fare programs. Street Roots participates in TriMet’s Fare Relief Program, a well-intentioned grant program for the clients of nonprofits. However, it also externalizes bureaucratic work to organizations that can ill-afford the free time and resources, all for what amounts to a few free rides per client per month.
Fares make up just under 20% of TriMet’s budget. That’s not an unsubstantial amount, but it’s not insurmountable either. What revenue cannot be redistributed or offset from eliminating the fare process (staff, equipment, advertising, etc.) will have to be considered from alternative funding streams. And this isn’t just one decision to make, to be free or not to be, rather one among many that would go into supporting a fare-free network.
It’s time to look deeply at the opportunities. It’s time to explore a fareless public transit network.
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