Fare free transit for youth—exploring transit use and behavior change

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, young people have become
a considerable share of public transit users. However, younger
representatives of this age group still face many barriers to accessing
transit infrastructure and benefiting from its service. This study
examines a Youth Cruz Free program launched by the Santa Cruz METRO in
March 2023, allowing kids and teenagers of school age to use the service
for free. We were interested in understanding how the program has changed
the travel behavior of teenagers, whether it encourages adolescents to use
the service after they turn 18, and what factors influence their overall
ridership of Santa Cruz METRO. To reach both current high school students
and recent graduates, we have completed two rounds of surveys distributed
among high schools in Santa Cruz County. The surveys asked about
adolescents’ sociodemographiс status, the availability of different modes
of transportation, school attendance, and other variables that might
change patterns in their mobility and encourage/discourage transit
adoption. After completing multiple statistical tests, we identified the
significant factors impacting teenagers’ travel behavior. Hispanic/Latinx
students were found to ride the METRO more frequently than White students.
Students with a driver’s license and students with higher numbers of
household vehicles are less likely to use public transportation.
Surprisingly, variables such as gender, job frequency, and the walking
distance from the bus stop expected to be significant, didn’t support our
hypothesis.