Five years after first making public transit free in Tucson, the city council is again debating if they should — or can — continue to keep buses, the streetcar, and other forms of public transit free.
“I deeply believe we should keep a free system,” Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said at the April 8 study session, but noted that the city is facing a deep budget deficit.
“Something has got to give.”
The last time city officials debated the topic was in November 2024, when staff was instructed to provide the mayor and council with more data and lay out options for moving forward.
The council voted again Tuesday for ongoing analysis about how the city could maintain free fares and what would happen if they started charging again.
As city council went back and forth about how to proceed, members of the public sat in the audience holding up signs saying “Keep Fare Free Transit,” “Local Business Loves Free Transit,” and “Free Fare for Clean Air.”
There are many paths forward for both options.
Continuing to fund free transit could include increasing hotel and motel surcharges by about $1, shifting to a percentage surcharge model, implementing a public utility tax or pursuing public-private partnerships.
There are already some partnerships in place: Tucson Medical Center contributed about $800,000 to help keep fares free.
Additional options include: implementing a transportation utility fee, developing a special taxing district, adding a rental car tax or forming a Metropolitan Public Transit Authority.
Council member Lane Santa Cruz, of Ward 1, made a motion to consider all of the above options, plus raising parking fees, obtaining more funds from the state, and various ways of increasing the motel/hotel surcharge to keep public transit free. Mayor Romero also mentioned exploring funds generated by lottery fees.
Council member Paul Cunningham, of Ward 2, specifically asked for more data about how much each funding option would actually generate.
“Phoenicians have taxed themselves to pay for public transit,” Romero said about how Phoenix pays for public transit. She suggested that Tucson should explore how to find a dedicated funding source, such as a new tax or one of the other options, rather than using the city’s general fund for transportation costs.
“Ideally I would like to have a conversation with Tucsonans to find out what their priorities are and how they pay for those priorities,” Romero added.
“The general fund is breaking. It’s not a self-inflicted wound,” Romero said, adding that the wound was the result of the flat tax passed by former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey’s administration and by “the chaos the Trump administration is causing.”
Nikki Lee, of Ward 4, said that all council members are in favor of finding a way to maintain free fares, but she made a motion to conduct a Title VI analysis to explore potentially reimplementing fares.
“While a return to fares has not been considered in the past, the Mayor and Council do have the flexibility to direct staff to perform a Title VI Fare Equity Analysis without committing to a return to fare collections,” according to an April 8 memo,
A Title VI analysis is legally required if there is a significant change in fares for public transit — in this case from fare-free to charging again. The analysis would consider if the change would disproportionately impact minority and low-income populations, according to Sam Credio, director of the transportation and mobility department.
Council member Kevin Dahl, of Ward 3, meanwhile, asked the mayor and council to commit to at least another year of free fares. Santa Cruz concurred, saying “we need to stay creative and compassionate about how we serve” the community, calling to continue the free-fare model.
Lee’s motion, however, about studying how reimplementing fares would impact the community, passed, with Santa Cruz and Cunningham voting against.
On top of the Title VI analysis, the city will also study how much it would cost to start collecting fares again and how much revenue fares would generate.
If the city does eventually return to charging people for riding public transit, there are a number of options for that approach as well.
Those options include: returning to the 2018 fare structure, which cost between $1.75 and $2.35 for express routes; begin charging only for Sun Link (the streetcar) and express bus routes; simplify all fares to $0.50; implement fare caps, which would limit the total amount a rider pays in a given period; or create a fee fare pass for qualifying low-income residents.
“Permanently fare-free!”
Before the city council meeting, a group of about fifty supporters of free transit gathered with pizza, signs, and music to push the city to maintain free fares.
Tucsonans have rallied around the idea of keeping the rides free.
“Psychologically, it changes your view about what the city allows you to do,” Prabjit Virdee, open streets manager of Living Streets Alliance, told Arizona Luminaria.
“Can they travel throughout the city without burden or barriers, and then make a positive impact in their city?” Virdee said.
“Free public transit is a public good through and through.”
Kylie Walzak, a longtime advocate for public transportation, said while “business leaders are using safety as a reason to reinstate fares, public transportation is significantly safer than driving.”
Walzak noted that transit riders reduce their chance of being involved in a crash by more than 90 percent by taking public transit, compared to commuting by car. That adds up to traveling by public transportation being ten times safer per mile than traveling by car.
At the community, car-free event Cyclovia this weekend, Walzak was part of a team thatcollected 300 postcards expressing support for free fares and sent those to all council members. Cyclovia is organized by Living Streets Alliance.
The Tucson-based Transit for All Coalition included suggested talking points in a recent call to “KEEP PUBLIC TRANSIT PERMANENTLY FARE-FREE!”
The talking points noted “the crucial role that public transit plays in the daily lives of students,” and the fact that Tucson Unified School District, the University of Arizona, and Pima Community College are not currently reimbursing the city for their students and staff to benefit from free transit.
The discussion on free fares comes as the city prepares its budget for next fiscal year, and on the heels of the resounding defeat of Proposition 414, which would have increased the city’s sales tax by a half-cent. Voters rejected the measure by 40 points. It did not include any money for fare-free public transit.
The projected operating deficit for the Fiscal Year 2026 budget is almost $28 million.
A very short history of free fares
Tucson is one of a handful of cities nationwide making public transit a free public service, like parks and libraries. In Arizona, Sierra Vista is piloting free-to-ride transit services.
When Tucson first made public transit free, the city relied on COVID-19 relief dollars, granted from the federal CARES Act, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, and the American Rescue Plan Act.
Public transit generates revenue in a variety of ways. Fares can help, but by themselves won’t make up transit costs to the city. In 2020, the system cost $65 million and fares paid for about $9 million, or 13%, when ridership dropped and the city stopped collecting fares in the pandemic.
That makes the current annual funding shortfall about $9 million.
According to a comparative analysis included in the April 8 memo, “the City of Tucson has the highest percentage of general fund investment with approximately 9.04%. By comparison, the City of Mesa contributes 2.67% of its general fund expenditures towards transit services.”
In 2024, in a newsletter from Mayor Romero’s office, her staff members referred to fare-free transit as “a public good that connects our community to resources so we can thrive.”
Changes to bus routes
Also on the table is the elimination of SunTran’s Route 5, which runs from Sabino Canyon to Pima Community College West, taking passengers by the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind, Catalina High School, Pima Community College West, and the University of Arizona, among other locations.
According to SunTran’s website, an average of 17,388 passengers take the route each month.
Route 22, meanwhile, would be expanded to extend it to Pima Community College West.
The total savings of the shakeup would be about $1 million, annually, according to a presentation by Credio at the April 8 meeting.
If the mayor and council decide to pursue the change, they would need to do public outreach and further analysis.
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