I’m not talking about free fares – big change.

I’m not talking about occasional drugging – bad change.

I’m talking purely about people, passengers. There are many of them.

The Tucson City Council is looking ahead to the June 30th deadline for the free fare program that’s been in existence since the beginning of the 2020 pandemic, and the basic facts point to the program’s success. That means more people are using buses.

Passenger numbers for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022 increased by approximately 20% from the pandemic-affected previous year. Since then, passenger numbers have increased by another 12%. This equates to 1 million more bus trips in the eight months to February this year.

For the occasional passenger, like me, who doesn’t take the bus every day as the number of passengers increases, this change may seem dramatic and refreshing. I feel like an empty bus is a waste.

Crowded buses also have benefits such as fewer cars on the road, fewer harmful vehicle emissions, and less need for dedicated parking spaces. I also like the short walk to the bus station.

But of course there are problems. And the main thing is money.

A relatively small portion of the funding to support Sun Tran comes from fares. This year, it will be $9.1 million out of a total cost of $105 million, which the city is paying for once.

About half of the $105 million annual cost is funded by $53 million from the city’s General Fund and major additional contributions from federal grants and regional transit agencies. Arizona contributed nothing.

The city is reaching out to “partners” such as the University of Arizona and Pima Community College to convince them to contribute to fill the $9-10 million gap next year.

Last December, when Mayor Regina Romero reported to the council on these efforts, things were not going well.

One argument she said she used on the Pres. Robert Robbins: “Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to add more parking to our invaluable land at the University of Arizona?”

However, she reported that there had been no movement.

Unfortunately, University of Arizona students and staff rely heavily on public transportation, the Sun Link Streetcar and Sun Tran Bus.

Recently, I took the number 3 bus down East Fifth Avenue and headed west. The outflow in college is noteworthy.

After interviewing passengers on various buses on Friday morning, I learned that passengers weren’t just on speedway numbers 3 and 4. I met Juan Pablo Morales on his 18th street through South Sixth Avenue. He said he is from Caborca, Sonora, and attended college.

He said he really appreciates the free service and takes it to college almost every day.

Most of the dozen people I interviewed on Friday are regular riders. Most people said they like the free service because it saves money and is convenient.

I took the quiet 12th bus up South 12th Street and chatted with Kathy Molina and Miguel Rodriguez. Instead of sitting together, they sat in the backmost corner of the bus.

Molina told me that since the free fare started, taking the bus is “same but with more people”.

The free fare “has saved me a lot, at least now I can buy something for my daughter,” she said.

Miguel Rodriguez has said that he has been riding buses since he was a child. Now he commutes in two of his cars. He estimated that free fares would save him $20 a week, but before free fares were introduced there were cheaper monthly bus commuter passes.

Like everyone I’ve interviewed, I asked Rodriguez about his bad experiences with other passengers, especially since free fares started.

“I’ve seen very few bad things on the bus,” he said. “Some people are weird, but other than that they’re cool.”

I think this concern is why many Tucsonans are hesitant to take the bus: the sometimes confused drug addicts or psychopaths who get on board, especially since free fares have removed one small barrier to entry. People. Dollars for rides, or bus passes.

It’s not an illegal concern. I have spoken with several passengers who want the city to reimburse fares to keep troublemakers off the buses. He said that he had actually fought a homeless person who was believed to have been.he said he wanted the fare charged again

But a more common view, like Darrell Maxwell, is that people like to save money but don’t like people who bring it in.

“There are a lot of people who get excited or irritated,” Maxwell told me as we rode the 8th east along Broadway. If the city charges again, “I don’t have to deal with that many riff ruffs.”

Maxwell was on my left. To my right, Rebecca Bender interjected that people don’t like filling seats with three or she four bags. But since she is a low-income person, she wants the bus to remain free anyway. Maxwell was fine with either.

The truth is, not all buses are the same. For example, as passengers and drivers have told me, 18 along South Sixth Avenue and 16 along North Oracle Road have more trouble at night.

“18 is a whole other world,” said Maxwell.

The drivers’ union, Teamsters Local 104, has expressed concern over an increase in assaults on drivers and cheating by some passengers that spiked after free fares began. Union chief executive Karla Schumann said Friday that the union has no position on free fares and only wants the safety of drivers, passengers and the general public.

The city responded to safety concerns by deploying security guards on certain routes and transit centers to try and deter troublemakers. They have also installed new fences at the Lao Transport Center, added police to the center, improved surveillance cameras, and otherwise stepped up efforts to stop bad behavior.

Most riders I’ve spoken to say that, in my own experience, there are very few really bad behaviors. It’s offset by incredible convenience.

Cleofas Ludlow, a student at Sunnyside High School, said he has taken two buses a day to and from the infamous Route 18 every day for more than a year.

“I’ve only had about four bad experiences,” he said while waiting for a transfer at the center in Laos. “Over a year, it’s not bad.”

Those experiences are: In one case people quarreled with each other, in another there was a bad quarrel or confusion. Nothing was directed at him specifically.

Maria Felix, who has ridden buses for 13 years, speaks to me in Spanish and describes her experience: Occasional trouble. The passenger sitting next to me may be in bad shape, but overall it’s very good. “

As a result, the free fare program worked, removing cars from the roads, reducing air pollution, and filling previously empty buses.

For the city’s big agencies (UA, PCC, RTA, Pima County, the city itself), it would be a shame for a program to disappear at a relatively modest cost of $10 million.