Riding Triangle buses will be free for another year. Will it last beyond 2024?

You’ll be able to ride local buses for free in the Triangle for another year, but there are signs that may not be the case forever.

Local boards in Durham and Wake counties all recently approved budgets that will continue to suspend fare collection on GoCary, GoDurham, GoRaleigh and GoTriangle buses until at least July 1, 2024. The agencies that operate those bus systems will rely on federal COVID-19 relief money and other government sources to make up the loss of fare revenue.

But transit agencies have begun talking about how to restore fares on local buses without hurting low-income riders. The GoTriangle board directed its staff to begin planning to resume fares, in coordination with other local agencies, next summer.

“There are things that we need to be working on now before we go straight to re-enacting fares,” said Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, a board member.

GoRaleigh, GoDurham, GoTriangle and GoCary all stopped collecting fares in March 2020 as part of a broader strategy to prevent spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The goal was to help enforce social distancing and reduce contact with frequently touched surfaces, including the fare box.

At the same time, Congress passed the first of two major stimulus packages that included money for public transit agencies that more than offset the lost revenue.

But that money is running out, even as transit agencies face growing costs for labor, fuel and equipment. Fares generated about $3.5 million a year for GoRaleigh before the pandemic, but even with that money the system would face a budget deficit next year, Baldwin told council members this spring.

Triangle transit agencies and the governments that support them will have to weigh the pros and cons of reinstating fares as next summer approaches. Supporters of keeping buses fare free say it encourages ridership, in part by making the system easier to use, and that helps reduce the environmental impact of cars.

A coalition that includes nonprofit social service groups and the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce says permanently eliminating fares would also be a cost-effective way to help low-income people who depend on the bus. They argue that buses are already heavily subsidized; before COVID-19, fares generally accounted for less than 20% of money needed to operate Triangle bus systems, with the rest coming from various local, state and federal sources and advertising.

Baldwin and others say local agencies shouldn’t reinstate fares without programs in place to help low-income riders.

“We took a major burden off people who had to get to work,” Baldwin said. “I’d hate to see us put a burden back on them.”

Taking the bus for free has been a blessing for riders such as Virginia Jones of Raleigh. Jones, 42, doesn’t own a car and is unemployed at the moment. Waiting in GoRaleigh Station downtown recently, she said she rides the bus three or four times a week for shopping and other errands.

“It helps me get back and forth job hunting,” she said.

Would reinstating fares solve behavior problems?

Those who favor reinstating fares cite the need for revenue. The Raleigh Transit Authority voted 6-2 last fall to recommend the City Council reinstate bus fares, saying the city’s bus system needs the money and that riders would be willing to pay.

For GoTriangle in particular, the majority of fare revenue has come from large companies and institutions that buy passes for their employees to take the bus. Those employers have indicated they would be willing to again pay for GoTriangle’s GoPass, said Katharine Eggleston, GoTriangle’s chief development officer.

There’s another reason to ask people who can afford the bus to pay their way, says Sig Hutchinson, the former Wake County commissioner who heads the GoTriangle board. Hutchinson says if and when local transit agencies ask for more state support, they’re likely to get a more favorable response from lawmakers in the General Assembly if riders are also being asked to contribute.

But Hutchinson’s main concern is one shared by many bus drivers and some passengers: That eliminating fares has turned buses into de facto shelters for people with mental illness or substance abuse problems who ride buses all day because they have no where else to go.

In March, Triangle transit and social services agencies met to talk about how to help these so-called non-destination riders and improve the riding experience for everyone. Hutchinson says he thinks the solution includes bringing back fares.

“Having a fare or a barrier to entry will improve the safety and security of our operations,“ he said.

But Michael Parker, who represents Chapel Hill on the GoTriangle board, cautioned against looking at fares as the only solution to unruly behavior on buses. Speaking to fellow board members this winter, Parker noted that Chapel Hill Transit has been fare free for more than two decades, with the help of large subsidies from UNC Chapel Hill, and has found ways to manage non-destination riders.

“We really need to be thoughtful about how we approach that issue,” Parker said. “Because at the end of the day what we’re saying is we want the least among us not to be able to ride our buses, even if it’s because they don’t have shelter. In the winter they need a place to stay warm and on a 100-degree day they need a place to stay cool, and it’s a system failure that they have to ride the bus to do that.”