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.

Methods
This data was collected through a survey of high-school students in Santa Cruz County, California. Survey recruitment was coordinated with the help of the school districts in Santa Cruz County and through SC METRO, as well as 2 community organizations in the area. The survey was administered online through the Qualtrics survey platform and downloaded in .csv format.