Rome Transit Expected to End Free Ridership. What We Know.

For the past few years, the Rome Transit Department has been able to offer free ridership on its buses, but that will be coming to an end around the first of the year.

On Wednesday, the Rome Transit Committee voted to recommend that the fares be set at $1.50. The recommendation must also be approved by the full Rome City Commission.

“We surveyed and we were looking at what our community could support,” said RTD Director Courtnay Griffin. “Based on those survey numbers, $1.25 and $1.50 were the options that made the most sense for our area median income. Based on that, I think that $1.50 makes the most sense income-side and operations-wise.”

Reintroducing fares will help sustain the service following a loss of federal revenue. After the loss of tripper service in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the federal government stepped in with additional funding that covered 100% of operating expenses. That allowed RTD to offer free ridership. However, that funding has run out, and the funding formula is back to a 50-50 split.

Griffin told the committee that setting the fare now will give RTD enough time to notify the public so they can prepare for the fare rollout. It will also provide time for training.

“This is, again, just an important operating decision because it does take us quite a while to get anything going with the Georgia Department of Transportation,” she said. “So, the more time we have to solidify things the better it is for us to roll things out operationally.”

According to Griffin, they will still honor discounts when the new fares go into effect.

“They will be adjusted a little, but we will still honor senior citizens discounts, student discounts, and things like that, in the way we have before,” she said. “They would just be adjusted accordingly. In the same way, we also have paratransit, which is now $2.25. We are not looking at an increase in that service. Our recommendation is to keep that at $2.25.”

Griffin said the $1.50 fixed-route fare should mean that there will not have to be another increase anytime soon.