Iowa City looks to continue fare-free bus program

IOWA CITY — One year after Iowa City stopped collecting fares for its buses, ridership is up 43 percent — or 450,000 additional rides — and the city is considering ways to fund an extension of free fares beyond a test period.

The city launched a two-year fare-free pilot program last August to encourage people to use public transit and as part of the city’s climate action goals. Members of the City Council have indicated that they’d like to continue the program beyond the pilot that otherwise would end a year from now.

“I think that's a fantastic goal for us to shoot for — a system that means that you can live just fine in Iowa City without a car,” said council member Andrew Dunn at a work session.

Of the other bus systems that operate in the city, Cambus — the University of Iowa’s bus system — is free to public and Coralville transit’s fares are $1.

Transit goals

Iowa City is aiming to have 1.91 million annual rides by 2030. In addition to ridership numbers increasing, the city would like to improve the “on-time performance.”

In fiscal 2024, 72 percent of trips departed within five minutes of the scheduled time, up from 69 percent the year before. The goal is to have 85 percent of trips leave on time.

Director of Transportation Services Darian Nagle-Gamm said that moving to fare-free has lead to faster boarding and is helping routes stay on time.

Part of the city’s decision to pilot the fare free program was to reduce overall carbon emissions in the city, in line with its climate action goals. The city estimates the increase in ridership has helped to reduce carbon emissions by over 31,000 metric tons. That does not include the city adding electric buses to its fleet.

While the city has some data on what routes get the most ridership, there’s no data available by stop. Nagle-Gamm said the transportation department would like to consider more data collection measures, including rider surveys, in the future.

“We have never had the reliability and technology until now automatic passenger counters, which will tell you where people get on and off the bus. And really, that's the most necessary piece of having a full, complete data set for really effective transit planning,” said Nagle-Gamm at a recent council work session.

Potential funding sources

The current pilot program, estimated to cost about $1 million a year, is funded through federal pandemic relief aid. In the future, Nagle-Gamm said the program may be funded through a combination of funds from parking fees, federal funding and proposed franchise fees paid by utilities.

The exact amount that the city would budget to continue to the program, or where that money would come from, has not been finalized. A proposed utility tax would likely come before the council in early 2025.

In the meantime the city is working on expanding its electric bus fleet and building a new transit facility with the $23 million in federal funding the city received last year.

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