Councilmembers ahave been skeptical that free Circulator fares are really helping.

Jacob Fenston / WAMU

The $1 fare is coming back to the D.C. Circulator bus on October 1, after the D.C. Council ended an initiative by Mayor Muriel Bowser.

In February, Bowser told the District Department of Transportation to stop charging for the bus as part of her budget initiative to give people a “fair shot.” She said making the Circulator free would help create transportation equity. She then extended the free fares indefinitely, setting aside $3 million to pay for the lost revenue.

But the D.C. Council, and Ward 3 Councilmember and transportation committee chair Mary Cheh, disagreed with the idea, saying Bowser didn’t provide enough evidence that the free fares would help the people most in need.

Tourists and out-of-state riders make up a third of Circulator ridership, according to a 2015 study. It also doesn’t go to Wards 3, 4 or 5. A new route is planned for Ward 7.

[Read more about the history of the free fare program]

In May, Cheh wrote, “a decision of this magnitude merits a larger discussion, including how it fits in with the District’s overall public transit goals, which does not appear to have taken place.”

Cheh said she was unsure whether the Circulator is attracting new riders, or simply redistributing riders from Capital Bikeshare and WMATA.

The free fares end Tuesday as the District starts its new fiscal year.

But Bowser and DDOT remain optimistic that the Council might reverse course.

“We continue to see the benefit of keeping the Circulator free and are hopeful the Council will take action to keep it free,” DDOT Director Jeff Marootian said. “Ridership supports that.”

According to numbers from the District Department of Transportation, ridership jumped by more than 850,000 trips when fares were not charged from February through August (the latest month available). That’s up nearly 29% over the same months last year.

Reactions to the news that fares were coming back were mixed. Some people were upset fares were coming back. Others said the larger goal should be to make all transit, including Metrobus and Metrorail, free in the District, but that is a much bigger lift.

https://twitter.com/talkinbpractice/status/1177630402011451395

Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd, a close Bowser ally, has introduced a bill to keep the Circulator free and expand it to all eight wards, but it’s unlikely the Council will change its mind. The fares will begin October 1, at the start of D.C.’s fiscal year.

This story first appeared on WAMU.

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