LAWRENCE — Every campaign season, politicians debate the potential benefits and drawbacks of making public transit free. New research from the University of Kansas has found that when Kansas City made its bus service fare-free in 2020, it not only attracted new riders but also increased overall bus use for many. These changes have the potential to enhance mobility and quality of life, particularly for people from historically marginalized communities.
In 2020, the bistate Kansas City Area Transit Authority (KCATA) implemented a Zero-Fare policy. It had previously offered free service or discounts to veterans and high school students, but the new policy was unique.
"Kansas City wanted to sustain the fare-free policy for good, which set them apart," said Joel Mendez, assistant professor of public affairs & administration at KU and study author. "At that time, Kansas City was the largest metro area in the world to implement fare-free transit. This study looks at what effects this kind of policy can have on mobility."
To determine those effects, Mendez surveyed more than 500 Kansas City transit users at bus stops throughout the metro service area about how the policy influenced their ridership habits. The surveys were conducted in 2023, allowing time for the policy to take effect.
Findings indicate that the policy successfully attracted new riders, as 17% of respondents stated that they started using bus service because it became free. Younger people and women were particularly likely to be new riders. This aligns with broader U.S. trends showing that women and younger populations already use public transit more frequently. Also more likely to become new bus users are white residents, who were more than twice as likely to become new users when compared to users of color. This is significant as this segment of the population is generally less likely to use bus service. This reflects how the implementation of a fare-free policy can help transit service providers strengthen their core ridership base while also expanding it, Mendez noted.
Of those surveyed, almost 40% of preexisting bus users reported increasing the frequency of trips after fares were eliminated. While that suggests fares were a barrier to some, a majority of preexisting users reported not increasing their usage. That is likely due to several factors, such as people already maximizing their usage or the presence of barriers such as limited access to bus stops, inconvenient schedules or safety concerns, but would require more research to confirm, Mendez said.
Overall, bus use increased across varying personal characteristics such as age, race, income and vehicle access. Notably, new users without access to a working vehicle made 4.88 more trips per week than those who did have vehicle access. These findings highlight the equity implications of the zero-fare policy, suggesting it has a particularly strong impact on people who typically experience limited mobility.
The study was published in the journal Transport Policy .
Kansas City is a unique place to implement fare-free transit, as it is a geographically large, spread-out metropolitan area and KCATA serves seven counties in a traditionally-automobile dependent region. While no two regions are exactly alike, the study results from Kansas City can help inform transit policy in other locations.
"I can argue that if we see these benefits in a sprawling area like Kansas City, they could be amplified in a denser region," Mendez said.
The KCATA announced in spring 2025 that fares would be reinstated, although it is unclear for how long. At the same time, officials are exploring the long-term feasibility of maintaining fare-free service. Mendez is conducting further research to address questions such as if the fare-free policy helped combat social exclusion, specifically if people had better access to resources like employment and health care. He is also studying if bus users' saving and spending habits changed because of fare elimination and how the policy influenced user experience like bus overcrowding, the system's on-time performance and if complaints about transit declined.
The current study's findings show a permanent fare-free policy is worth consideration among city leaders, Mendez said.
"The policy not only increased bus use but also broadened the user base to include people who don't typically rely on transit," Mendez said. "That shift can generate greater political support for fare-free transit, potentially leading to increased government funding and wider public backing for such policies."
