Nathanael Mooney, Campus Carrier staff writer
James Fox, Campus Carrier staff writer
Rome bus rides have been free ever since the federal government offered additional funding to the city during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that funding has now run dry. As a result, the Rome Transit Department (RTD) is expected to reintroduce fares to bus routes later this year.
The RTD is funded primarily through grants and is currently back to a 50-50 split in funding between the federal government and local government. During COVID-19, 100% of the funding came from the federal government, but with those funds gone, RTD is turning to the community to keep the service running.
“In order for us to operate we do have to have some revenue,” Director of RTD Courtnay Griffin said. “This is a community service so by no means will the addition of fares cover operations.”
According to the city’s website, the single regular fare will be $1.25 and the student, senior and disabled fares will be $0.60. They will also offer a paratransit service for $2.25 per ride. RTD offers multi-ride cards that serve as bus passes and can be purchased in quantities of 50 or 10 rides. Transfers and children under five will continue to be able to ride for free. The department is expecting slight shifts in ridership; however, they do not expect a drastic change that would affect the service.
“Last year on our fixed route we had about 200,000 rides, so that’s not a per person but a per ride, but that has dramatically increased since [COVID-19] and even still we’ve seen a 60,000 ride increase in the last year,” Griffin said.
To determine what the fares would be, RTD looked at other cities with similar population sizes and operations to Rome. They also used data such as median income to determine a fair and economical price.
Rome’s new fares are close to those in similarly sized cities. Chattanooga charges $1.50 per ride for adults and $0.75 per ride for seniors, while Cobb County’s fares are $2.00 per ride for adults and $1.00 per ride for seniors.
RDT is hoping to add more to the quality of their service with new buses, increasing comfort, and ensuring timeliness. Other potential additions to the service include expanding available hours to include nights and weekends as well as expanding to Berry College. Many students rely on the grocery shuttle or carpooling in order to leave campus and access Rome and an expansion into the college would help to bridge the gap between Berry and the Rome-Floyd community.
Freshman Hannah Williams stressed the difficulties that come with not having a car as a student such as managing time to get to classes, go shopping and eat meals.
“It’s really hard to go to the store,” Williams said. “And then there’s the trouble of [being a] music major, so I have to go to Ford and I live all the way across campus.”
Williams has not found modes of transport such as bikes an option either when it comes to transportation off campus.
“Rome doesn’t have as many sidewalks at all, and that’s very dangerous,” Williams said. “I think it’s very important to have a mode of transportation, but I don’t think that bikes or roller skates or skateboards are very helpful in Rome at all.”
Freshman Emma Courtney feels that biking was not an effective way to get around Rome.
“I feel like Rome is too spread out for a bike to be the smartest decision,” Courtney said.
Williams said safety would have to be considered if public transit became available to students.
“I am not willing to put myself in danger,” Williams said. “I know it’s kind of different but I remember MARTA had a bunch of thievery and some violence. I’m not saying that would be the case in Rome, but I would have to look into how safe it was.”