Free Transit Today
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 @ 3:58 AM
Prince George, B.C.- You can ride Prince George Transit for free today as the "Free Fare for Clean Air" policy has kicked in because of the dust advisory that is in effect.
Although the advisory may be lifted later today, the free transit rides will continue until midnight tonight.
The Free Fare for Clean Air policy is meant to provide alternate transportation during air quality episodes in an effort to reduce the particulate matter by keeping vehicles off the roads.
Comments
Does anybody monitor the ridership during this? I am curious if there are actually any more passengers than normal on these days.
does the service/scheduling improve when free.
What a hair brained idea. The buses are responsible for some of the polution. They kick up all the dust left by the poor sweeping job tha the city does.Thjenm add the exhaust to complete yhe job.
Cheers
The buses run whether or not rides are free. The idea here is that free fares will attract people to ride the buses who would otherwise drive their own vehicles, which produces a net reduction in emissions.
This post is by norm1 ….not to be confused with a poster named norm
I am an occasional transit passenger and a promoter of transit use.
The free fare for clean air is not a NEW policy. It has been in place for at least 2 full years. If promoted properly it can be an excellent transit promotion tool to encourage transit as well as reducing pollution.
Unfortunately, I believe that the city of Prince George fails to let anyone know of the policy UNTIL there is an air quality advisory in place.
At that point, the only people who are aware, are those people who normally use transit.
More promotion of the policy is needed, when the air is good in order to encourage people to try transit….and what better time to try transit can there be but when transit is free.
I use transit on almost a daily basis. The free rides don’t affect me because I get a semester pass for a reduced rate through my school. Free rides is a nice idea in theory but there’s no way most people who are non-riders normally are going to wake up in teh morning, see that the buses are free (if they happen to notice teh breif mentions in the media), find out the schedule, and take the bus. Given our infrequent service on most routes, you need ot know the times in advance to arrnage to be at the bus stop at the right time. it just doesn’t make sense that people will go to all that trouble just to avoid driving when there’s an air advisory. We’d be better off to promote the buses in general, improve schedules, and have incentives to ride on a regular basis.
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