Amendment ID: S2819-24
Amendment 24
Fare free bus transit
Ms. Jehlen, Ms. Rausch, Ms. Chang-Diaz, Mr. Eldridge, Ms. Edwards, Messrs. Keenan, Timilty and Feeney move that the proposed new text be amended by inserting the following 3 new sections:-
“SECTION XX. (a) There shall be within the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, a pilot program for fare free buses. The program shall establish a minimum 1 year pilot, whereby, access to bus service is free for any person who boards an MBTA bus, without pass, cash fare, or CharlieTicket. The program may include all MBTA bus routes and shall at a minimum include no less than 10 priority bus routes as established by the MBTA, and 10 routes that are not top 20 routes, but that experienced higher than average ridership within the previous 2 years. The program shall include no less than 3 routes that operate with terminuses at: 1. MBTA commuter rail suburban stations; 2. MBTA heavy rail or subway stations; 3. bus depot destinations.
(b) There shall be a fare free MBTA bus advisory group consisting of 10 members to oversee the pilot program. The advisory group shall include: the general manager of the MBTA; the director of MBTA bus operations; the secretary of transportation or a designee from the department; 1 member of the MBTA board of directors chosen by the board at a public meeting; a labor designee appointed by the president of the AFL-CIO of Massachusetts; the executive director of LivableStreets or a designee; the executive director of Alternatives for Community and Environment or a designee; 1 member of the MBTA advisory council, chosen by the council; 1 person representing people with disabilities appointed by the governor; 1 person appointed by the governor representing an environmental justice municipality within the MBTA region.
(c) The fare free MBTA bus advisory group shall create, with the assistance of MassDOT and MBTA staff, goals, standards, and key metrics for the development and tracking of the fare free bus pilot. It shall hold public meetings at which public testimony will be accepted not less than quarterly and present all relevant data and implementation information. The advisory group shall form sub-groups as needed, including to evaluate the impacts on ridership, equity, increase in access to MBTA heavy rail, system efficiency, on-time performances of bus routes, any cost savings as compared to fare revenue impact, impact on fare evasion, impact on bus driver and rider incidents, or any other area identified by the advisory group. The advisory group shall identify ridership community representatives for each of the routes that are part of the pilot and those representatives shall be allowed to participate in each of the meetings or portions of meetings where those routes are discussed. The advisory group shall have full access to any data or record related to the pilot. The MBTA and MassDOT shall identify and assign a team of staff dedicated solely to the support of the advisory group and the performance of the pilot.
(d) The pilot shall commence not later than March 31, 2023. The advisory group shall present formal findings not less than every six months thereafter to the MBTA board of directors and the MassDOT Board. A final report on the pilot shall be submitted to the MBTA board of directors, the Joint Committee on Transportation and to the clerks of the house and senate, and the MassDOT Board not later than 3 months after the conclusion of the pilot.
SECTION XX. (a) All Regional Transit Authorities operating in Massachusetts shall operate a pilot program for fare free buses. The program shall establish a minimum 1 year pilot, where by, access to bus or on demand service is free for any person who boards an RTA vehicle, without pass or cash fare. The RTA program may include all service routes within the specified Regional Transit Authority and shall include at least one route that experienced higher than average ridership within the last 2 years.
(b) There shall be a fare free RTA advisory group to oversee the pilot program. The advisory group shall include: 1 representative from each participating regional transit authority appointed by the executive director of each regional transit authority; the secretary of transportation or a designee from the department; 1 member of regional transit authority advocates council chosen by the council; 1 person representing people with disabilities appointed by the governor; 1 member appointed by the governor from an environmental justice community in a participating RTA region; 1 municipal designee within a participating RTA region chosen by the governor from a list of candidates submitted by the affected municipalities.
(c) The fare free bus RTA advisory group shall create, with the assistance of MassDOT staff, establish goals, standards, and key metrics for the development and tracking of the fare free bus pilot. It shall hold public meetings at which public testimony will be accepted not less than quarterly and present all relevant data and implementation information. The advisory group shall form sub-groups as needed, including to evaluate the impacts on ridership, equity, increase in access to MBTA heavy rail, system efficiency, on-time performances of bus routes, any cost savings as compared to fare revenue impact, impact on fare evasion, impact on bus driver and rider incidents, any expansion routes or linkage routes that could be brought online, or any other area identified by the advisory group. The advisory group shall identify ridership community representatives for each of the routes that are part of the pilot and those representatives shall be allowed to participate in each of the meetings or portions of meetings where those routes are discussed. The advisory group shall have full access to any data or record related to the pilot. MassDOT shall identify and assign a team of staff dedicated solely to the support of the advisory group and the performance of the pilot.
(d) The pilot shall commence not later than March 31, 2022. The advisory group shall present formal findings not less than every six months thereafter to the MassDOT Board. A final report on the pilot shall be submitted to the MassDOT board, the Joint Committee on Transportation and to the clerks of the house and senate not later than 3 months after the conclusion of the pilot.
SECTION XX. (a) There shall be a Fare Free Bus Pilot Trust Fund to be expended, without further appropriation, by the MassDOT board for funding fare free bus pilots consistent with sections XX and XX of this act. The fund shall be credited with: (i) money from public and private sources, including gifts, grants and donations; (ii) interest earned on such money; (iii) any other money authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund; and (iv) any funds provided from other sources. No expenditure from the fund shall cause the fund to be deficient at the close of a fiscal year. Revenues deposited in the fund that are unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund and shall be available for expenditure in the following fiscal year.”;
and, by striking in section 53, in line 723, the words “and (iii)”, inserting in place thereof the following:- “and (iii) $20,000,000 to the Fare Free Bus Pilot Trust Fund established in section XX; and (iv)”.