Trade Your Car For A Free Lifetime Bus Pass (If You Live In Murcia)

BY Morgan ClendanielTue Jul 12, 2011

A Spanish city, in a bid to end congestion, has made its citizens an offer: Give up your car and ride our trolley for free, forever.

People love their cars. They're willing to maintain a car even when it's expensive and difficult. In the Spanish city of Murcia, which had become crowded with vehicles, the government decided to try to pry people's hands off the wheels by offering a little economic incentive. Not only would you not have the inconvenience of trying to park, you could ride the city's public transit for free for the rest of your life.

To promote the campaign, the city made a series of adorable advertisements showing how unpleasant it is to be stuck in traffic and looking for parking all the time.

And just in case some Murcia residents hadn't noticed how annoying it was to have a car in the city, they also started leaving cars in impossible parking spots, like this one, where the car is forced to sit on two other cars to find a space.

Seeing that, a lifetime trolley pass looks quite enticing. While many cities have campaigns to encourage public transit use, and a few use congestion pricing to help limit the number of cars in the city centers, this is an impressive use of city funds to directly influence how people get around the city. A lifetime trolley pass is probably a minimal cost for the city (though most transit systems are already bleeding money without giving away free fares), but with enough given away, could make a drastic difference in the livability of the city.

[Images: Mejor en Tranvia]

[Hat tip: Springwise]

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TheDigitel

By Ken Hawkins,

MUSC, College of Charleston students and staff to keep getting free CARTA bus fare

The Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) has struck a deal to continue its transportation agreements with the Medical University of South Carolina and College of Charleston.

This is the sixth year that MUSC has had a partnership with CARTA and the eighth year for CofC of offering students, faculty and staff of both institutions unlimited rides with their organization identification card.

The result is free bus service to these riders, with costs covered by MUSC and College of Charleston.

• Learn more about CARTA and its services on our topic page.

“Our constant focus is to encourage use of public transit throughout the Charleston area,” said Christine Wilkinson, interim executive director for CARTA. “These two partnerships further our continual pursuit of that goal. We encourage other Charleston area businesses to consider how CARTA can help their employees and staff.”

CARTA also has ongoing partnerships with the City of Charleston, Charleston County School District and Roper St. Francis Hospital.

On average, as many as 65,000 trips per month are taken by MUSC and CofC ID holders. In addition, more than 30,000 riders take the Express routes each month, which are heavily utilized by MUSC and CofC.

“Continuing this important partnership is not only a benefit for our students, faculty and staff, but an investment in the community,” said John Runyon, director of business services at Medical University of South Carolina.

The partnerships offer a number of other benefits, which include:

• Reduce traffic and congestion in the Charleston area
• Reduce need for additional parking on campus
• Accommodating to students and faculty – provides safe travel as well as bike racks for transportation around their respective campus
• Brings the benefit to staff, faculty and students while increasing ridership and encouraging public transit
• Increase in ridership enables CARTA to acquire additional federal funding for equipment and upgrades
• Continuing a strong relationship with two valuable partners and involvement in regular events such as MUSC Green Fairs and CofC Orientation
• Provides a valuable service to a diverse community

Aubagne -- fare free streetcars -- a first.

Carfree France

French city Aubagne will probably the first streetcar in the world completely free!

Aubagne (France) never stops innovating. In 2009, the Urban Community of the Pays d'Aubagne and Etoile (100,000 inhabitants) introduced totally free public transport on the entire network for all users, whether residents the urban community of Aubagne and beyond. Today, Aubagne even start building a streetcar line!

This is, to our knowledge, the first streetcar line in the world will be totally free for users!

The work of the future streetcar is expected to begin late 2011, early 2012. The first phase will be delivered end of 2013. Two other phases are coming in 2016 and 2019.

Total cost of this project? About 144 million euros for a line of 9 km with 19 stations (one every 500 meters); this is a very low price, the cost per kilometer is € 16 million, making the project the cheapest in France.The technical and financial decisions were approved by the french government, which granted the project a grant of € 13.76 million, as part of the "Grenelle de l’Environnement" and stating that the project "fully meets the challenges of sustainable mobility."

The project will be funded by the State, the Region, the Department and a 35-year loan to be repaid by the "transport tax" annualy paid by companies.

So it is a world first, Aubagne will probably the first streetcar in the world completely free!

Source: http://carfree.free.fr/index.php/2011/07/06/aubagne-aura-le-premier-tramway-au-monde-entierement-gratuit/

Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801: "“The introduction of free bus fares on four of the five routes, is aimed at encouraging the increase in use of public transport and therefore a decrease in the use of private motor vehicles, so as to deliver an environmental gain, as well as improved traffic circulation. The introduction of the new bus routes and free bus service on most routes will represent further significant progress of the Plan.”"

Ohio College, community, partner to offer free transportation - News

College, community partner to offer free transportation - News: "Students in need of a ride are in luck, as Marietta College has teamed up with Washington-Morgan Community Action to provide free public transportation.

Executive Director of College Relations Tom Perry said that this is a relatively new service and has not been brought to the attention of many students yet."

Utah fare-free transit district adds buses to fleet.

The Cache Valley Transit District has purchased five new buses in an effort to increase the number of spares in the fleet.

Until recently, the organization had been operating with just one spare bus. Now, the CVTD will have four spares on hand and 32 total vehicles.

"What this does is it helps us get up to an acceptable spare ratio," said Todd Beutler, the CVTD's general manager. "We were operating with one spare vehicle, which is really tough when you're trying to keep service out on the street."

Beutler said the CVTD will be able to operate service more efficiently and with greater flexibility if a bus is in an accident or needs maintenance.

"We've been researching this for quite some time, and we determined it was probably time to jump into the market," said Beutler.

Two of the vehicles are 35-foot hybrid buses, and three are 40-foot commuters.

The hybrids are powered by clean diesel electrical propulsion systems. According to the CVTD, these buses help reduce emissions, save on fuel, and are quieter than conventional buses.

Beutler said the hybrids perform best in hilly and low-speed areas, noting they will be used on routes near Utah State University and Logan's Cliffside neighborhood, for instance.

The other buses, which have higher seating capacity, will be used mainly for the Cache Valley north and south routes and service to Idaho.

HJNews

Citylink Edmond ridership nearly triples » Local News » The Edmond Sun

Citylink Edmond ridership nearly triples » Local News » The Edmond Sun: "EDMOND — Ridership on Edmond’s relatively new public transit service has nearly tripled during its first year, a city official said.

During Wednesday’s City Council workshop members of the Edmond Public Transportation Committee, chaired by Councilman David Miller, discussed the increase in ridership with Citylink Edmond.

The city’s new free public transportation service, managed by McDonald Transit, began operating in July 2009, and currently manages eight buses equipped with bike racks and wheelchair tie-downs, according to the city. Two Expresslink buses seat 30 passengers each while the six local route buses can carry 19 passengers each."