Bureau Brief – Addendum to “Implications of a Fare-Free WRTA”

In May 2019, the Worcester Regional Research Bureau published a report analyzing the Worcester Regional Transit Authority’s fare policy, providing facts and figures on ridership, collection costs, service zone demographics and more. The report compared those facts and figures to bus systems that eliminated fares to boost ridership, coming to the conclusion that the WRTA was the “perfect candidate for a fare-free system.” Since the report’s release, a coalition of area residents, both in and outside government, has pushed the WRTA to eliminate fares on public buses in the Worcester area.