Free Public Transit: Maine - Free Public Transit Fridays

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Maine - Free Public Transit Fridays

"Through the months of July and August, citylink and ADA complementary paratransit service will be FREE on Fridays. Governor Baldacci is asking people across the state to "declare their energy independence" by riding public transit. As an incentive to ride public transit for the first time or to maybe start riding again, transit systems across the state will be FREE on Fridays through the month of July. Auburn and Lewiston are taking it a step further by extending the FREE Fare Friday program though the end of August." Lewiston/Auburn Transit

Free is Cheaper

How is free transit cheaper? Don't you have to make up for lost fare revenue? The answer is that your city will save so much money in other areas, and quality of life will improve so much that you will get back much more than the lost fares. Some examples are listed below. If you want to see specific numbers, see our spreadsheet here.

Increased return on investment. Public transit involves large fixed costs. When fares are gone, there are more riders per vehicle, getting more value from the investment.
Reduced parking costs. With free transit, fewer people will park downtown. City parking authorities can cost $180 million a year, paid by fines, which are just a tax on customers and delivery services.

Reduced traffic congestion. Studies have shown that the time lost in traffic costs urban economies hundreds of millions of dollars.
Less money exported for gasoline. A medium sized city can export 1 million dollars a day in gasoline money for cars. Free buses will reduce this considerably.
Better quality of life, priceless. In Hasselt, Belgium, when fares were removed, people in hospital started receiving more visitors.