Fare-Free Bus Service: Bus service should be treated as an essential city service.

Reliable transportation connects people to work, school, healthcare, childcare, and opportunity. When someone can’t afford a car, doesn’t have bus fare, or simply can’t drive, getting across Lynchburg shouldn’t become the barrier that keeps them from holding a job, making a doctor’s appointment, attending class, or participating fully in our community.

That's why I believe Lynchburg should determine whether we can make GLTC bus service fare-free and treat public transportation as the essential community service it is, while finding a financially responsible way to do it. The numbers say this idea deserves a serious look.

GLTC currently projects about $600,000 a year in fare revenue. That's real money, and eliminating fares would require replacing it. But $600,000 is not necessarily the final cost to taxpayers. Fare collection itself costs money. Virginia offers grants supporting zero-fare programs. Employers, healthcare organizations, colleges and other institutions may have an interest in partnerships. And increased ridership can increase some state and federal transit funding.

We also need to look at what better transportation could save our community.

GLTC reports that 68% of its fixed-route and Flex customers are going to work. For those riders, reliable and affordable transportation is workforce infrastructure.

Transportation is healthcare infrastructure, too. Research has found that transportation barriers are associated with greater use of hospital emergency departments, while improved public transportation has been associated with fewer missed medical appointments. If someone can take the bus to a routine doctor's appointment instead of putting off care until a condition becomes an emergency, that's better for the patient and potentially far less expensive for the healthcare system.

And Virginia has real-world experience showing that eliminating fares can change people's transportation choices. Alexandria's fare-free DASH system found that free fares helped attract new riders and encouraged existing riders to ride more frequently.

None of that means we should simply write a $600,000 check and hope for the best. It means we should do the math.

I want Lynchburg to work with GLTC to identify grants, partnerships, fare-collection savings, additional funding generated by higher ridership, and the economic and health benefits of greater access. Then we can determine the true net cost and whether a sustainable fare-free system makes financial sense.

The goal is simple: No one should lose a job, miss a doctor's appointment or pass up an opportunity because the cost of getting there stood in the way.