4 ms·

I was surprised to find that Miami Beach has free trolleys and Hollywood (CA) has a free nighttime (weekend?) shuttle as well here in the US.

Ididntdothis 7y ago
Mainly in tourist areas. Yosemite valley has feee shuttles too.
karthikb 7y ago
Emeryville does as well, primarily during commute hours.
reaperducer 7y ago
Seattle used to have free transit downtown. I'm not sure how much of it was about moving people around, and how much was just to move people around faster by not requiring them to go through the payment process. The free rides are over now. Literally. When I lived in Seattle, and outside Seattle, I was always impressed that Sound Transit lived up to its mandate as a transit agency, and not a revenue source. Its mission was to move people around. To that end, if you didn't have any money (forgot your wallet, too drunk to remember where you left your Orca card, too poor to pay, etc...) the bus drivers would give you zero hassle and let you board. In contrast, I can't count the number of times I've seen clearly poor people kicked off of the buses in Chicago because they couldn't afford to pay. That just seems wrong. There should be some sort of income line below which you are entitled to free public transit.
- xyzzyz 7y ago
  The free rides are over now. Literally. Yes, Seattle discontinued its mobile homeless shelter program.
  - journalctl 7y ago
    And now their homelessness problem is over?
    - xyzzyz 7y ago
      No, but now you can actually take a bus to downtown and not inhale piss vapors.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    Was this actually an issue?
    - throwaway1777 7y ago
      It was definitely common for homeless and mentally ill people to be on the free ride buses, but I don’t know if I’d say it was a primary reason it was cancelled. Seemed more about costs.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  Do you mean Sound Transit (inter-city/county bus service) or Metro (king county)? I can’t imagine sound transit buses being that lenient at all, metro buses on the other hand could be. Downtown Seattle has gone down hill since the 90s/00s. It used to be a nice place to shop and do stuff, but the last time I was downtown there was hardly anything to do beyond tourist traps. I guess a lot of this is amazon destroying in person retail, ironically enough.
earthboundkid 7y ago
Baltimore and DC have free buses called "circulators". There was a story that the buses are losing money but would lose more money if they charged because they're getting grants for being free and have ads which would be worth less with lower ridership.
- mattkrause 7y ago
  Interesting, since they used to charge! I suspect they also make some of the money "back" from people taking the bus to/from a Metro (subway) stop, where you now have to buy a ticket since you no longer have a transfer.
WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago
Yeah, downtown has the metro mover... you can move between most of the downtown area without a car.

Ididntdothis 7y ago

Mainly in tourist areas. Yosemite valley has feee shuttles too.

karthikb 7y ago

Emeryville does as well, primarily during commute hours.

reaperducer 7y ago

Seattle used to have free transit downtown. I'm not sure how much of it was about moving people around, and how much was just to move people around faster by not requiring them to go through the payment process. The free rides are over now. Literally. When I lived in Seattle, and outside Seattle, I was always impressed that Sound Transit lived up to its mandate as a transit agency, and not a revenue source. Its mission was to move people around. To that end, if you didn't have any money (forgot your wallet, too drunk to remember where you left your Orca card, too poor to pay, etc...) the bus drivers would give you zero hassle and let you board. In contrast, I can't count the number of times I've seen clearly poor people kicked off of the buses in Chicago because they couldn't afford to pay. That just seems wrong. There should be some sort of income line below which you are entitled to free public transit.

xyzzyz 7y ago
The free rides are over now. Literally. Yes, Seattle discontinued its mobile homeless shelter program.
- journalctl 7y ago
  And now their homelessness problem is over?
  - xyzzyz 7y ago
    No, but now you can actually take a bus to downtown and not inhale piss vapors.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Was this actually an issue?
  - throwaway1777 7y ago
    It was definitely common for homeless and mentally ill people to be on the free ride buses, but I don’t know if I’d say it was a primary reason it was cancelled. Seemed more about costs.
seanmcdirmid 7y ago
Do you mean Sound Transit (inter-city/county bus service) or Metro (king county)? I can’t imagine sound transit buses being that lenient at all, metro buses on the other hand could be. Downtown Seattle has gone down hill since the 90s/00s. It used to be a nice place to shop and do stuff, but the last time I was downtown there was hardly anything to do beyond tourist traps. I guess a lot of this is amazon destroying in person retail, ironically enough.

earthboundkid 7y ago

Baltimore and DC have free buses called "circulators". There was a story that the buses are losing money but would lose more money if they charged because they're getting grants for being free and have ads which would be worth less with lower ridership.

mattkrause 7y ago
Interesting, since they used to charge! I suspect they also make some of the money "back" from people taking the bus to/from a Metro (subway) stop, where you now have to buy a ticket since you no longer have a transfer.

WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago

Yeah, downtown has the metro mover... you can move between most of the downtown area without a car.