Committee backs making Ride On fare-free and approves technical fee changes

The Transportation and Environment Committee on April 29 unanimously approved the County Executive’s FY26 resolution on transportation fees, charges and fares that would make Ride On bus service fare-free beginning in FY26 and remove several related fare line items and capital expenditures from the Mass Transit Fund.

Committee leadership said the action responds to a sharp decline in farebox recovery and aims to lower barriers to transit. The committee vote followed staff presentations and public-data scenarios that compared four fiscal approaches: maintaining the $1 fare baseline, a zero-fare option (the executive recommendation), $1 fares with active enforcement, and a $2.25 fare with enforcement.

Why it matters: The staff fiscal analysis showed lower fare revenue today than before the pandemic and projected that eliminating fares would remove annual fare-processing costs while generating upfront capital savings tied to not installing or replacing fare-collection equipment. Committee members and department staff framed the change as a mix of fiscal and policy choices involving equity,…