Final FY25 Adopted Budget

Fare Free Iowa City On August 1, 2023, Fare Free Iowa City began providing free rides to everyone using Iowa City buses. The City’s two-year pilot program will study the effects of making transit free across Iowa City and providing improved access to safe, affordable, reliable, and sustainable transportation. During the pilot, Iowa City Transit aims to double ridership , helping enable a shift of 55% of vehicle trips to more sustainable modes of transportation. This goes hand-in-hand with the City’s Climate Action goals to reduce carbon emissions by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 , and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 .

+53% COMPARED TO AUGUST 2022 1ST MONTH RIDERSHIP

In the program’s first month alone, ridership increased by 53% when compared to the previous year, and it remained high through the end of 2023.

2023

Total trips in August

2022

131,420

85,672

For more information about the pilot program along with resources for new riders, visit icgov.org/Fare Free .

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