Friday, February 16, 2024–12:25 p.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
For the past few years, the Rome Transit Department has been able to offer free ridership on its buses, but that will be coming to an end later this year.
RTD Director Courtnay Griffin told members of the city’s transit committee that reintroducing bus fares will help sustain the service following a loss of federal revenue. After the loss of tripper service in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the federal government stepped in with additional funding, that covered 100 percent of operating expenses. That allowed RTD to offer free ridership. However, that funding has run out, and the funding formula is back to a 50-50 split.
“Because more than six months has passed we have to reapprove reinstating fares as well as make sure the public has been informed, and there are public notice requirements,” Griffin said. “I knew that this would come into play this year so at the end of 2023 we held some public meetings, just to get some feedback that I could share with you guys so that you could be informed and making that decision.”
Griffin believes that bringing regular ridership, combined with increased paratransit ridership, could potentially mean $500,000 in revenue to support transit.
“Of course, that is really vital for our operations,” she said. “When we lost tripper, we lost a large of additional fares that were coming in.”
Since the fares were eliminated, ridership has nearly doubled. Griffin addressed concerns that reintroducing fares could impact those ridership numbers.
“In general, we have created value in a different way,” she said. “We’ve gotten more people on the bus. We’ve gotten more people to experience the transit system because there is no better time to try something than when it’s free, right? We may see some fluctuations but I do not expect it to completely decrease at a rate of 50 percent.”
Griffin told the committee that a dollar amount for fares has not yet been set. A consultant is coming in to do a study, and that information will go into setting the fares.
Other communities in Georgia of similar populations to Rome have fares of anywhere from $2.00 to $2.75.
