What Can Cities Learn from Kansas City's Fare-Free Transit Program?

Caltrain's $2.4 billion electrification of 51 miles of track replaced diesel trains with faster electric ones, resulting in ridership increases (it doubled on weekends) and shorter trips. This also led to an 89% reduction in riders' exposure to toxic pollution and an estimated 250,000 metric tons of annual carbon emissions reductions.

In 2014, Dunkirk, France, launched a four-year initiative to become the country's largest city with fare-free public transit. The city rebuilt its bus system with 150 vehicles serving 200,000 residents, redesigning routes, improving vehicle quality, repositioning stops, and implementing 10-minute service intervals. The approach included daily bus cleaning, same-day repairs, smartphone tracking apps, and a testing phase with free weekend travel before the full 2018 rollout. The initiative has increased bus ridership by 165%, with 10% of users abandoning their cars altogether.

Kansas City is the largest U.S. city to adopt a zero-fare policy since its public bus system stopped charging riders in 2020. This policy change gives riders more financial flexibility and improves social and physical health outcomes as residents are walking more to get to bus stops and are also more connected to the community through increased access to transportation.

The government’s new mass transit system is making transportation cheaper and more accessible amid fare increases. With its fleet of buses and taxis, the Borno State Mass Transport System is strategically placing shuttle buses in areas with high commuter traffic, making affordable transportation more accessible.

Rapid bus system TransMilenio offers locals an extensive bus network of 12 bus lines covering 71 miles. While rapid buses aren’t as fast as a metro, and TransMilenio’s design has its share of issues, this system managed to get up and running in a fraction of the time a metro system takes, and at a significantly lower cost. TransMilenio is crucial in connecting those in underserved districts to the heart of the city and serves about two million riders each day.

The Vision Zero campaign aims to eliminate traffic deaths around the world. So far, Hoboken has made several changes to its streets and transportation policies to increase safety, such as repaving crosswalks to increase visibility, building curb extensions and adding bike lanes to roads. With these new safety measures in place, the city hasn’t reported a single traffic death since January 2017 and traffic-related injuries have dropped 41%.

In rural Huron, California, an electric vehicle ride-sharing program, called Green Raiteros, provides free rides for low-income residents who need to get to medical appointments. The organization's 120 clients can call in advance, or just show up when they need a ride.

Across the country, cities are pursuing office-to-housing conversions after the pandemic decimated downtown business districts. A percentage of these new apartments are required to be offered at affordable, below-market rates and some cities are also offering tax breaks for developers to incentivize these conversions.

The Final Mile project built 335 miles of bike lanes across five U.S. cities in 24 months to provide more transportation options outside of driving cars and make bike riding more accessible, thus addressing the urgent climate crisis, equitable access to goods and services and public health.

A community-led nonprofit restarted New Orleans’ bike-sharing program Blue Bikes with a focus on affordability and equity after a for-profit company ended it during the pandemic. The founders used the bike stands and tools left behind from the original program, the city provided spaces for the bike racks, and the funders provided money for a fleet of bicycles.