All decisions

What we chose: no fares for anyone, ever, starting on the first day.

What else we considered:

• Starting with seniors and people with disabilities, then expanding.
• Keeping fares but adding more discount passes.
• A weekly free day as a pilot.
• A "Prescribe-a-Ride" program for clinic referrals.

Why: fares cover only a small part of the cost of running buses. In 2024 Shoreline Metro's passenger revenue was about $546,000, against about $4.3 million in operating costs. Collecting that money has its own costs: fareboxes, passes, punch cards, cash handling, and the paperwork behind every special program.

Today, schools, agencies and employers each work out their own pass deals. We call these the paperwork islands: every group gets its own rules, and riders have to know which island they're on. A seniors-first approach would add one more island. Fare-free for everybody ends them all with one rule anyone can remember.

Free fares also make buses faster. When nobody has to pay at the front, everyone boards through every door. Boston's fare-free Route 28 saw boarding time per rider drop by about 23%. Faster boarding means buses stay on time with the same drivers.

Once rides are free, a referral program for free rides has nothing left to do, so we dropped Prescribe-a-Ride. Clinicians can simply tell patients: just get on.

One rule anyone can remember: everybody rides free.

Next decision: 2. One schedule, every day: 5 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.