Free transit for students to regain ridership: Users and boarding characteristics of LA Metro's GoPass program

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) started in October 2021 the largest free transit pass program in the U.S. to date. Known as GoPass, it serves students from kindergarten to community colleges in Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the U.S. Although many free transit pass programs have been created, few have been analyzed from the point of view of transit agencies (i.e., for the characteristics of their users and their impact on ridership). To address this gap, we first examine GoPass' contribution to LA Metro's bus boardings, before comparing selected characteristics of the students enrolled in GoPass in 2023 with census data. We find some opportunities for additional growth, including for female students. To understand GoPass usage, we estimated a generalized spatial regression model that explains annual GoPass boardings aggregated by census tract (detailed usage data are unavailable to protect the students' privacy) using a broad range of socioeconomic and built environment variables. Our results confirm the presence of strong spatial effects. We find that census tracts with more young males, more transit stops, mixed land use, and more participating schools accessible within 30 min by transit have more GoPass boardings. Conversely, the number of GoPass boardings decreases with more access to private vehicles, property crimes, multifamily units, and a higher population density. A better understanding of the characteristics of GoPass users and GoPass usage is useful to improve GoPass and to inform transit agencies interested in creating similar programs.