The City of Philadelphia launched Zero Fare, a transit benefit program to provide fully subsidized transit passes to at least 25,000 city residents. The goals of the program are to make it easier and more affordable for residents to get to work, meet caregiving responsibilities, and access health, education, and recreation opportunities, while supporting the community-wide benefits yielded by more transit usage. The program also aligns with Philadelphia’s commitment to addressing the climate crisis by investing in transit to reduce congestion, decrease emissions, and improve air quality.
A key feature of Zero Fare is automatic enrollment. The program leverages city administrative data to identify eligible residents and employs a lottery to select program participants. The city contacts elected residents to confirm address information and then mails a pre-activated transit pass valid for at least one year. There is no application and no card-activation step required, thereby reducing the administrative burden, or “time tax,” on individuals and lowering the barriers to accessing the benefit. This enables the program to reach a representative group of eligible participants, including those who would otherwise face substantial barriers in accessing the benefit if an application process were required.
Consider opportunities to diversify transit funding to support a community's social, environmental, and economic goals while balancing the real costs of operating frequent, reliable, and equitable service.
Understand the value of equity-centered transit benefit programs.
Apply policy mechanisms to reduce administrative burdens in accessing transit benefits.
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