Regional Transportation Agency Provides Free Bus Rides for Senior and Disabled Riders
Beginning July 1, people age 60 and older will ride free on Regional Transportation Agency buses serving Howard, Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties.
Howard County now provides free rides to people with disabilities on RTA buses, including Howard’s 30-bus fleet and seven buses in Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties. Riders must show valid I.D. to receive the free fare.
RTA also will create a $5 day pass for unlimited rides in a single day and reduce the price of a monthly pass from $47 in Howard County and $60 in Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties to $40 everywhere.
A standard, one-way bus ride will remain $2 in all three counties.
Free rides on established bus routes could help Howard County’s roughly 14,000 disabled residents and its more than 57,000 residents 60 and older to ride the bus more and rely less on the more expensive door-to-door paratransit services, said Transportation Administrator Clive Graham.
While the true cost of the average bus ride is $6, the cost of a paratransit ride is $40; both services receive operating subsidies.
Paratransit services prices will incrementally increase in Howard County, going from $2.50 to $3 beginning in July and going up to $4 in July 2019 and $5 the year after in all three counties. The rides already cost $4 in Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties
The county hopes at least 1,000 rides annually shift from the paratransit services to the fixed route system as a result of the free fares. Eighty thousand paratransit trips are completed out of Howard County annually, according to Graham. He did not know the number of older adults or disabled residents projected to begin riding the bus as a result of the free fares.
The fare changes will likely help the county save money or even raise more revenue, Graham said, because it will help cut down on paratransit services. He also hopes more people will purchase monthly passes now that they’re cheaper, which could raise funds for the system since very few people bought them before, he said.
Any new money would be put to use implementing the county’s other bus plans, including more frequent route service and increased weekend service, Graham said.
A host of changes planned for the county’s buses, including shorter bus routes and wait times as part of the Central Maryland Transit Development Plan, are part of a larger effort to attract people to buses.
Ridership has been steadily falling over the last five years, according to Graham. In July 2014, there were 22,363 rides on the county’s route running from the Mall in Columbia to BWI Airport, according to county data. In July 2017, there were 14,816 rides, a 33 percent decrease on one of the county’s most popular routes.
Much of that loss is because of the rise in popularity of ride-share services such as Uber and Lyft, as well as lower gas prices, but the poor bus service in the county is also to blame for driving people away from aging buses, long wait times and lengthy bus routes. If these changes succeed, the numbers should rise back up to their previous levels.
Reliable bus service is essential for seniors who can not drive and the disabled who can utilze it for lower cost paratransit. A local transportation system for seniors helps especially for lower-income residents in Howard County who don’t have a car or can’t afford to regularly use ride-share services.
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Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-bus-fare-changes-0524-story.html