Law-First Plan
5. What Fare-Free Saves
The service is its own promotion.
See the city budget map: where the money goes and how to move it
Fare-free first: about $0.5 to $0.6M a year. The bigger network phases in later ($13.8M starter, $22.6M full).
Fare-free is a design choice, so this section counts what the city stops paying for, and what it gives up, using Shoreline Metro's own 2026 budget first and peer systems second. Every number shows its math.
5.1 What fares bring in today
- 2026 budget: fixed-route fares $308,000 plus paratransit fares $275,000, a fares subtotal of $583,000 (Sheboygan Transit Commission 2026 budget, July 2025 packet).
- NTD reported fares: $546,349 in 2024 on operating cost of $4,295,776, a 12.7% fare recovery (National Transit Database series for Shoreline Metro).
- 2026 fares: $2.00 cash, $1.00 half fare, $4.00 day pass, $50 monthly pass, $4.00 paratransit. School trippers are already free in 2026 (Transit Commission fare hearing item, July 8, 2025).
- The 2026 fare increase was projected to add only about $33,000 to $44,000 a year (same packets).
5.2 Administration savings
- Cash handling: fareboxes are emptied twice a month, passes are sold at the office daily, and cash is deposited at the bank and posted by Finance (Shoreline Metro internal controls, 2026 budget packet). All of it ends.
- Mobile ticketing: the 2026 budget carries $5,000 in HotSpot app fees for transit. Fare-free ends this fee.
- Reduced-fare and pass paperwork: half-fare cards, punch cards, 30-day app passes and the school district agreement billing all go away. The school district agreement ($91,350 in 2026) is a local-share payment, so v2 keeps it as a service partnership, not a pass sale.
- Peer evidence: Kansas City's transit authority spent $500,000 to $750,000 a year on farebox upkeep and armored cash transport against about $12 million in fares, or 4.2% to 6.25% of fares (Governing). Applied to Sheboygan's $308,000 of fixed-route fares, that is $12,900 to $19,300 a year.
5.3 Equipment savings over time
- Fareboxes recently cost $16,600 to $19,068 each (Hampton Roads 2024 order, $846,587 for 51; Indianapolis 2025 order, $381,366 for 20; Placer County 2024, $18,634 each).
- Shoreline Metro runs 22 buses (NTD). Replacing every farebox would cost 22 x $16,600 = $365,200 to 22 x $19,068 = $419,500.
- Placer County replaced fareboxes bought in 2010 in 2024, a 14-year cycle. Spread over 14 years, that is $26,100 to $30,000 a year. At the usual 20% local share of federal capital, the city's part is $5,200 to $6,000 a year.
- Peers avoided the same bill: Kansas City skipped a $10 million farebox replacement, Alexandria DASH avoided up to $7 million in upgrades, and Olympia's Intercity Transit avoided a card system costing at least $1 million.
5.4 The service is its own promotion
Design principle: the service is so good that people just use it, like the Montreal Metro. One fixed schedule every day and no fares means there is nothing to sell. The website is all we need, and the ad budget is zero.
- The full 2026 advertising and marketing line, $20,000 (radio, print, social media), becomes savings.
- No pass promotions, fare campaigns or seasonal timetable pushes.
- Printed timetables and rider guides: there is no separate budget line, so the savings are not counted here (see Open questions).
5.5 Basic rider information (operations)
Part of everyday operations, like clean buses and on-time trips.
Public comment before a fare increase or a major service cut
Authority 49 U.S.C. 5307(c)(1)(I); Shoreline Metro Public Comment Policy
What we do Policy on file
Title VI notice of nondiscrimination
Authority 49 CFR 21.9(d); FTA C 4702.1B, Ch. III-5
What we do Post on the website and in the office. Put one standard notice card in each bus and at main stops. Translate per the language assistance plan
Language access and public participation plan
Authority FTA C 4702.1B, Ch. III
What we do One plan, updated every three years with the Title VI program
Accessible rider information, including for riders without internet
Authority 49 CFR 37.167(f); paratransit eligibility materials, 49 CFR 37.125
What we do One phone line with TTY or 711 relay that reads the schedule. Large print and other formats on request. Notice of temporary changes by phone and at affected stops
Public meeting notice for Transit Commission decisions
Authority Wisconsin open meetings law, Wis. Stat. 19.84
What we do Standard agenda posting
Stop information
Authority Design choice
What we do One permanent sign per stop with the route, the every-day schedule and the phone number
5.6 Triage savings
- Boarding time: no-fare boarding takes about 1.6 seconds per rider, versus 2.2 seconds with a flash pass and 4.2 seconds with cash (TCRP dwell time synthesis, National Academies; TCQSM default 1.75 seconds). That saves 0.6 to 2.6 seconds per boarding.
- Across 582,212 fixed-route boardings (2024), that is 97 to 420 bus hours a year. At $84.86 per hour (2026 budget estimate), it is worth $8,200 to $35,700 a year. v2 spends it on schedule reliability.
- Disputes and safety: Kansas City reported that 90% of bus disputes involved fare payment (Smart Cities Dive). A national NTD study found fare-free agencies average 26% fewer security incidents (Penn State). Kansas City's security incidents fell 39% from 2019 to 2020 (MARC). Alexandria DASH said removing fares simplified drivers' work, while it also tracked more disruptive-rider incidents. v2 pairs fare-free with operator safety training.
- Fewer fare questions to customer service and no reduced-fare eligibility screening, except the ADA paratransit eligibility process, which federal law still requires.
5.7 Net picture
Mobile ticketing fees
Low savings case $5,000
High savings case $5,000
Math 2026 HotSpot line
Advertising and marketing
Low savings case $20,000
High savings case $20,000
Math Full 2026 line; zero ad budget
Cash handling and farebox upkeep
Low savings case $12,900
High savings case $19,300
Math 4.2% to 6.25% of $308,000 (Kansas City ratio)
Farebox replacement, local share
Low savings case $5,200
High savings case $6,000
Math 22 x $16,600 to $19,068, over 14 years, x 20%
Boarding time
Low savings case $8,200
High savings case $35,700
Math 97 to 420 hours x $84.86
Total yearly savings
Low savings case $51,400
High savings case $85,900
Lost fares (2026 budget)
Low savings case $583,000
High savings case $583,000
Math $308,000 + $275,000
School district agreement
Low savings case $91,350 lost
High savings case kept
Math 2026 line
Net yearly cost of fare-free
Low savings case about $623,000
High savings case about $497,000
Math $583,000 + $91,350 - $51,400; $583,000 - $85,900
What the net means. Savings recover about 9% to 15% of fares. Fare-free is a choice the city funds on purpose, mainly with the transit share of the wheel tax and the referendum in Section 4. It costs about $497,000 to $623,000 a year at today's service level, which equals about $15 to $19 a year in wheel tax ($33,300 per dollar), or about $18 to $22 a year on the median home ($36 per $1M of levy).
The federal 5307 effect. Federal operating aid can cover up to 50% of net operating cost, which is cost minus fares (49 U.S.C. 5307(d)(2); FTA C 9030.1E). Removing $583,000 of fares raises the federal ceiling from about $1,768,000 to about $2,060,000. Shoreline Metro's 2026 federal aid ($1,623,768) is already below the ceiling, though, and Wisconsin sets combined state and federal aid as a uniform share of costs (55.5% in the 2026 budget). So the plan counts no new federal dollars. Fares were never allowed as local match (49 U.S.C. 5307(d)(3)), so going fare-free does not shrink the match. The local dollars that replace fares, from the levy or the wheel tax, are eligible match.