Omicron or No—Transit No Longer Free in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is resuming normal boarding operations on buses today. Since March 2020, the nation's second busiest bus system had been requiring passengers to use rear doors to board and light buses without paying fares.

An article by Ryan Fonseca for LAist provides details on the resumption of front door boarding on Metro, noting that rear door boarding and fare-free rides were implemented to protect riders and drivers during the pandemic: "Skipping the fares and requiring rear-door boarding made it possible to do a better job of social distancing."

Advocates are questioning the timing of the change, with Covid infections in the county higher than they've been at any point in the pandemic. Metro seems to be aware of the current public health risks, announcing on January 4 that it was canceling all enrollment events for its low-income fare program (not to be confused with a fare-free pilot program under consideration at Metro in 2021).

Fare-free transit has been one of the hottest topics in planning during the pandemic. Albuquerque last week announced the largest fare-free pilot program of any U.S. city to date.