Bus and other transit riders throughout Vermont are bracing for a big change come March 6. Green Mountain Transit is set to reinstate fares after a more than three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For Benjamin Operhall, a frequent transit rider, the fare increase signals an end to the Burlington resident’s bus-riding days. “When the fares are resumed, I will not use the bus,” Operhall said.
Maddy Lyons, a Burlingtonian who works at University of Vermont Medical Center, said the money she’ll have to shell out for each trip isn’t a lot, “but it will start to add up.”
Fares aren’t only set to return — they’re going up. The transit system announced a $2 fare for urban local, commuter and LINK Express routes, a 33% increase.
For some riders outside Burlington, the fare rise also evokes negative feelings.
“I would be bothered by (the fare hike),” said Denise Weaver, who rides the TriValley Transit bus from Starksboro to South Burlington High School, where she is dean of ninth-grade students. “I feel like we are giving great tax incentives to people who drive electric cars. Instead, if we take that money and put it into public transit, that is something that everyone can access regardless of income. That would mean that everyone can access jobs, everyone can access health care, everyone can access food. Right now there is no grocery store in Starksboro, so there is no access to groceries for people who don’t have access to cars.”
Rural transportation will remain fare free.
“The state of Vermont has taken the position that rural public transit will continue to be fare free. The only place where fares will be introduced will be Chittenden County, which is the only federally designated urban area for public transit,” said Clayton Clark, Green Mountain Transit’s general manager.
The transit system will also continue to provide discounts on fares for some people: a 50% fare discount for riders ages 6 to 17, those over 60, riders with a disability or those with Medicare cards, according to its website.
The system also plans to offer a $4 day pass allowing for unlimited rides on a single day, a new addition. Day pass charges are capped at $50 a month, Clark said, meaning the remaining rides for that month will be free. However, riders can only enjoy this cap if they pay with credit cards, smartphones or Green Mountain Transit’s new smart card — not cash.
“(The fare caps) creates a situation, where we can actually jack up the price but still know that people won’t have to pay overall more than they did in the past,” said Clark.
But this reassurance might not be enough for some.
A South Burlington resident named Matt who declined to give his last name said he uses the bus to get to work in Burlington most days and does most of his errands via public transportation.
“For me, I don’t have a car, so the bus is usually how I do all that I need to do,” he said. He expressed concern about the plan to reintroduce a bus fee, saying, “I’ve been saving money by using the bus. I don’t think anyone should have to pay to use this … I’m trying to save up for a car.”
Others are more enthusiastic about the upcoming fare hike.
Ryan Turnbull, 32, who was visiting Burlington from Toronto, Canada, said fares will make sure folks on the bus are there for a reason other than finding a “place to sit.”
“And you’ll start to see this fare money go towards making Vermont public transportation a cleaner, safer space,” Turnbull said.
Turnbull feels uneasy when riding Burlington public transportation because, he said, “the crowd that rides the bus sometimes turns me off.” In his native Toronto, he feels safe taking the bus late after work. But in the Queen City he doesn’t feel the same security, something he pinned on the presence of people without housing.
“I’ve been coming here for the last eight years, and I’ve seen an uptick in the unhoused population,” he said. “It’s a sad thing because you want to help them, but at the end of the day, people don’t want to ride the bus if there are people making you uncomfortable. The other day I accidentally sat down on a lit cigarette butt that was left there by someone.”
Levon, a 17-year-old who takes the bus to and from high school and declined to provide a last name, wishes rules were more strictly enforced on the buses. Like Turnball, Levon has felt uncomfortable while riding.
“I usually sit on the very back of the bus, and as it gets busy, people will box you in there. It’s hard to avoid drinking and smoking behaviors, which can be a big disturbance,” Levon said.
The teenager said resuming fares will likely decrease incidents like these but believes the reversal will accentuate wealth inequities.
Winter might also pose challenges for people who can’t afford to pay the $2 fee or don’t have a car, some riders pointed out.
“If they bring back the fares, that’s going to be hard in the winter because people don’t have other alternatives if you don’t own your own car,” said Sarah O’Reilly, who uses the bus for her work commute.
O’Reilly spoke from personal experience. She doesn’t have a car and prefers her own two feet or bike to get to work, citing issues with bus timeliness.
Colin Howard, a 23-year-old local bus rider, agreed.
“The transit app to track the buses is also always wrong, and I will think I’m perfectly on time to the bus stop, but I’ll end up waiting there for 20 extra minutes, ending up being late for wherever I need to go,” said Howard.
For some, it just takes experimenting with the bus system to understand its idiosyncrasies.
“When you start to use the bus to get around, you understand the timing of the buses,” said Rylee Mcklay, a Burlington local who attended the University of Vermont a few years back. “You learn you should always get the earlier bus if you’re in a time crunch because you can’t rely on bus drivers to be on time every day.”
Green Mountain Transit suspended fare collection in March 2020 during the outbreak of the pandemic in Vermont as a way to minimize the spread of infection. “Pre-Covid, fares collected on GMT buses totaled about $2.5 million a year, and federal funding under the American Rescue Plan Act made up for that loss of revenue,” according to the system’s website.
Green Mountain Transit was initially set to resume transit payment in 2022. But “the state of Vermont intervened and said, ‘Hey, you know, we kind of like your fare-free experiment, and we’d like to have it continue for a year,’” said Clark.
Now, riding into 2024, residents must figure out if they can continue to take public transit.
Community News Service staffers Quinn Bisbee, Lindsay Foxwell, Emma Graham, Kate Kampner, Julia Odwyer, Lindsay Renk, and Siobhan Neela-Stock contributed to this report. Community News Service is a collaboration with the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.
