WRTA to offer free fares for rest of the year

Photo | Grant Welker The WRTA main hub on Foster Street in downtown Worcester

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The board of the Worcester Regional Transit Authority public transportation system voted on Thursday morning to extend its fare-free system through Jan. 1.

WRTA first offered free fares to all of its passengers in March 2020 in response to the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Thursday's vote was to extend the program for a few more months before the board revisits the issue later this year on perhaps extending the concept further, said Meaghan Lyver, WRTA manager of marketing and communications.

Before the pandemic hit, Worcester City Councilor-at-Large Gary Rosen, who is a member of the WRTA board, had pushed the idea of creating a fare-free system, calling for a $10-million pilot program to explore the issue. It was made in response to the ongoing discussion spurred by a report from the Worcester Regional Research Bureau calling the WRTA a perfect candidate for a fare-free bus system. The report calculated the up to $3 million annual expense to provide free service could be made up through cost savings, increased governmental aid, and partnerships. Researchers found offering the service for free would reverse the system’s declining ridership.

The board initially wanted to hold on the pilot program, seeking to secure a reliable source of funding for the program, before moving forward with the idea at the start of the pandemic.