By Andy Shenk
My kids are growing up, now ages 6, 4, and 4. We ride the bus most days, mostly for school, but also for everything else, from haircuts to doctors to Pokemon stores.
To ride Metro, kids 3-5 pay $1 and kids 6 and up pay the full $2 fare. It adds up for a family of five, so I poked around other American bus systems to see how Cincinnati compares to its peers.
It turns out Cincinnati’s fares are more expensive for families than nearly anywhere else. Here’s a quick rundown of some other cities:
Cincinnati is a clear outlier as the only city that officially charges 3 year olds to ride the bus. Now, in my experience, 3-4 year olds are not always charged and can often ride for free. But the policy is without question out of touch with the rest of American public transportation and needs to be reworked.
Beyond making it easier and cheaper for families to ride the bus together, my hope is that a simplified bus fare structure would increase ridership and make up for most, if not all, lost child fare revenue.
The Better Bus Coalition will be pushing this issue in the months to come and I hope we will have your support.