Fare Free Public Transportation: A full-scale real-world experiment in Alexandria, Virginia

The Fare Free Public Transportation (FFPT) concept and the related measures to improve transit offer is in the agenda of transit agencies, state and federal policy makers. The subject is even more important in the post-pandemic phase when transit use is slowly recovering and has not yet reached pre-pandemic ridership and market share. FFPT has been implemented in Europe and to a certain degree in the USA; however, there are very few studies that have followed the experiments, collected data, and evaluated the consequences. This study will monitor a full scale, real world, FFPT plan to be implemented starting from fall 2021 in Alexandria, Virginia. The researcher will work with local authorities and will support the transit agency (DASH) by providing rigorous measures of changes in travel behavior and social welfare. In particular, the following indicators will be estimated: modal shift from car and other modes to transit, accessibility and equity, and customer satisfaction. This policy evaluation is expected to be of interest not only to Alexandria, but will be a reference for many stakeholders across the country that are considering adopting similar policies in other cities.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $120000
• Contract Numbers:

  69A43551747123

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Urban Mobility & Equity Center

  Morgan State University
  Baltimore, MD  United States  21251
• Performing Organizations:

  University of Maryland, College Park

  3112 Lee Building
  College Park, MD  United States  20742

  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
  3500 Transportation Research Plaza
  Blacksburg, VA  United States  24061
• Principal Investigators:

  Cirillo, Cinzia

  Rakha, Hesham

• Start Date: 20211001
• Expected Completion Date: 20220930
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus transit; Case studies; Customer satisfaction; Free fares; Modal shift; Policy; Public transit; Travel behavior; Welfare economics
• Geographic Terms: Alexandria (Virginia)
• Subject Areas: Finance; Operations and Traffic Management; Policy; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01778412
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Urban Mobility & Equity Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A43551747123
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jul 29 2021 3:30PM