The Los Angeles Metro’s 22 months of free rides are coming to an end.
Beginning Jan. 10, riders must board at the front and pay the fare. Base fare is set at $1.75 a ride, but bus riders can purchase a monthly transit pass for $100. Enforcement of fares will begin the following month.
Elizabeth Medrano, an advocate and organizer for non-profit Women Organizing Resources and Knowledge and Services, said the free bus fares helped riders save money for to pay for bills and groceries, as well as funerals that took place during the pandemic.
“The money they saved from free transportation they’ve used to pay for family member funerals,” Medrano told Los Angeles Daily News.
Alfonso Directo, with the Alliance For Community Transit, noted that come January there will be concern and confusion with riders.
“I think there will be confusion come January,” he told L.A. Daily News. “They will take the covers off the fare boxes and usher in months of ambiguity and confusion.”
On May 28th, L.A. Metro Board approved a 23-month pilot program that allowed Metro and trains to be free for students beginning in Aug. and for low-income riders beginning January.
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