(Radio Iowa) – Iowa City is considering making its buses free to ride. Transportation director Darian Nagle-Gamm hopes the move will help bring back pre-pandemic ridership. “We think this could really make a difference. If you give people a service, a quality transportation service in town that they can just hop aboard. They don’t have to worry about a fare,” she says. “You know they can just hop on board and use the system. We will see, we will see an increase in ridership.”

Ridership on Iowa City’s buses is down 26 percent compared to 2019. Bus fares now make up eight percent of the department’s revenue and she says they’ll need to convince the Metropolitan Planning Organization to adjust the systems funding model.  “Because our ridership levels are down-like they are across the country-we have extra capacity on our buses. So this is really an ideal time for the city to consider moving to a zero fare platform because there is no additional staff or busses required at this time,” she says.

Nagle-Gamm says hybrid and remote work trends may mean fewer riders overall. But fare-free busing may coax some people who were on the fence.