Residents get bus fare break
May 9, 2008
Columbia Transit bus driver Paul Cox stops his bus on Thursday near Memorial Union. Cox said about half of his riders were aware of ‘Try Transit Day,’ during which Columbia Transit gave free rides on its buses.
With gas prices approaching $3.50 a gallon, Columbia residents could catch a slight break on their commuting costs on Thursday.
Try Transit Day was part of Bike, Walk and Wheel Week, the city’s annual celebration of non-motorized transportation. All day Thursday, people could ride Columbia Transit buses and Paratransit vans for free in an effort to get new people to ride Columbia Transit.
Fares are normally 50 cents for regular passengers and 25 cents for student passengers.
“The spike in gas prices is causing many people to look for ways to beat the high cost,” City of Columbia Transportation Manager Ken Koopmans said in a news release. “Trying Columbia Transit is one of the things we want people to consider when looking for an alternative mode of transportation.”
City spokeswoman Jill Stedem said in March 2008, Columbia Transit carried 1,017,290 passengers, an 18 percent increase over March 2007.
“We don’t have a way to attribute the increase to gas prices but we’re kind of assuming that’s what it is,” she said. “Gas has gone up so much that we think people are starting to use Columbia Transit as a more convenient, more affordable means of transportation.”
Stedem said the city does many things throughout the year to promote public transportation, including several marketing campaigns. She said the city tries to make sure students know Columbia Transit is available when they return to campus every fall.
“A couple months ago we did ‘Ride for a Can Day’ too,” she said. “People could ride the bus for free and donate food to the food pantry.”
Stedem said the city won’t know the final numbers for Try Transit Thursday until tomorrow, but there were already some results.
“Based on what we’ve seen so far, there’s been a significant increase,” she said.
She said she’d seen lots of teachers bringing students to ride the bus for field trips.
“There were lots of little kids,” she said. “It was a neat opportunity for them to try transit for the first time.”
Columbia Transit offers shuttles throughout campus and from campus to apartment complexes around the city. More information on routes, schedules and fares is available on the city’s Web site at gocolumbiamo.com.
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