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Senior citizens to ride Metro buses for free
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WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Senior citizens and people with disabilities will be able to ride Metro buses for free in Montgomery County beginning Jan. 1.
The county will pay Metro $220,000 a year to waive the 60-cent fares for those riders, the only Metro jurisdiction to do so. Montgomery County's Ride On service also will be free in January for senior citizens, who must be 65 or older, and the disabled.
"We're trying to help people who have limited mobility opportunities to get around the county," said Gary Erenrich, Montgomery's transit coordinator. Passengers will have to obtain an identification card from Metro to prove they qualify for the free rides. The transit system already requires such identification cards for seniors and the disabled to obtain the 60-cent fare, which will be 65 cents cheaper than the regular fare once Metro's fare increases kick in Jan. 6.
Senior citizens and the disabled began receiving free Metrobus rides in Montgomery County in October 2006, but on a limited basis. Initially, fares were waived only on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., but Erenrich said demand has been high enough to merit extending the free service.
Senior-citizen and disabled riders are not the only ones receiving free rides on Metro buses in Montgomery County. Since January 2003, the system has waived the fares for county schoolchildren on weekdays between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
"We started the free fares for the students so they will be free to run errands or go to after-school activities without their parents having to drive them everywhere," Erenrich said.
Students in Virginia and the District of Columbia do not receive discounted fares, but Prince George's County and Metro agreed this summer to allow students in that county to ride for free. Prince George's County is paying Metro $300,000 to reimburse the system for the fare revenue it will lose.
