Seattle’s King County just released the numbers from a pilot program that allowed riders ages 6 to 18 to take Metro buses for 50 cents and the light rail for $1 (both are usually $1.50).
The trial was performed in response to the massive drop off in ridership the city was seeing among this population during the summer months.
The numbers are really impressive and show that getting the price right, along with having reliable information and service, are really important to the future of transit.
Thanks in large part to free transit passes provided by five school districts in King County, transit is an attractive option for students in the Seattle area. With the ORCA cards, students get access to King County Metro buses, Seattle streetcars, and Sound Transit light rail and buses. But when the school year ends, the cards are deactivated and youth ridership drops. On Metro buses, youth ridership goes from about 400,000 rides per month during the school year to fewer than 100,000 per month in the summer.
A pilot program offering deeply discounted youth fares results.
Metro bus youth ridership jumped 35 percent over the previous summer for a total of 376,000 boardings. Light-rail ridership increased 42 percent. On streetcars, the increase was 25 percent. The big jump in transit uses illustrates that fare cost is a motivating factor for youth riders.
In addition to possibly repeating the youth reduced fare program next summer, Metro is working on two other pilot programs using state grant funding. One is with the Highline and Lake Washington school districts, on a similar summer youth subsidization program but with free transit for students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The other is with low-income students in Pierce and Snohomish counties who will receive a free ORCA card preloaded with $10.
“We want to do even more outreach to low-income and minority populations,” said Metro’s assistant general manager Chris O’Claire. “We know that in the future will depend on transforming youth. A little bit of that is about the fare. But much more, we need to understand what it takes to get people better access to the systems.”
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