List of free public transport routes

This is a list of zero-fare public transport routes, especially limited zero-fare routes within a wider fare-paying network.

For a list of city-wide zero-fare networks, see Free public transport

For free public transport for certain types of passenger (while others pay a fare), see Free travel pass

Australia

Belgium

• Ghent – free night bus services (weekends only).
• Leuven – free night bus services (weekends only).

Canada

• Calgary, Alberta – Free C-Train light rail transit within the downtown core (the "7th Avenue Free Fare Zone").
• Halifax, Nova Scotia – Free bus route around the downtown area in summer.^[21]
• Toronto, Ontario – Free LINK Train at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)

Czech Republic

• Hradec Králové, Czech Republic – all city buses and trolleybuses between the main train station and the new central bus terminal, since 2008 July 5.

Faroe Islands

• Torshavn, Faroe Islands - The municipality of the capital city Torshavn offers free bus survice.^[22]

France

• Calais, France – Free bus called the Balad'in runs from Boulevard La Fayette (or more precisely Jardin-des-Plante, in the town centre) to the beach and back every 10 minutes. Three buses operate on Monday to Saturday from 8.55am and with the last departures at 6.47pm (beach) and 7.02pm (town centre).
• Paris, France has frequent free transport routes that run around the Eurodisney Park and connect to hotels and alternative public transport routes nearby. There is also a free shuttle bus that connects the 'Centre Commercial Belle Epine' to a housing estate owned by Silic (fr:Silic) in the southern district of Orly.^[23]
• Tarbes in France offers a year-long free shuttle bus around the city, linking the main spots.

Greece

• Marousi, a wealthy northern suburb in Athens, Greece has small municipal bus shuttles (of red colour) which can be used for free by anyone.

India

• Tirumalai (Tirupati), India – Free buses run by Temple authority to visit the nearby religious centres on the top of the hill.

Malaysia

• Kuala Lumpur - Go KL City Bus plying around Kuala Lumpur CBD focusing on tourist spots. Currently run by Rapid Bus and Konsortium Transnasional. Furthermore, Aerotrain is a free train service at the Kuala Lumpur airport, it operates between the two main terminals.
• Petaling Jaya - PJ City Bus, a free bus service funded by Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ).
• Ampang Jaya, Kajang, Klang, Hulu Selangor, Kuala Langat, Kuala Selangor, Sabak Bernam, Selayang, Sepang, Subang Jaya and Shah Alam - Smart Selangor Bus, a free bus service operated by Rapid Bus funded by Selangor State Government.
• Penang - CAT Penang Bus, a free bus service funded by Penang State Government.
• Seberang Jaya, Penang - Free weekday bus operated by Rapid Penang from Sunway Business Centre in Seberang Jaya to Bayan Lepas targeting industrial area workforce namely Bridge Express Shuttle Transit (BEST).
• Johor Bahru District, Johor - Free bus services namely Bas Muafakat Johor (Johor Consensus Bus) operated by Causeway Link & Maju Bus Company.
• Malacca City, Malacca - Free bus service under Panaroma Melaka around Melaka Sentral Bus Station and Malacca General Hospital.

Netherlands

• Dordrecht – bus and ferry, some Saturdays at the end of each year.
• Noordwijk/Oegstgeest – Leiden Transferium – The Hague, express bus, running on weekdays during daytime, free of charge as a test during 2004; it was intended for commuters working in The Hague and living in Leiden or beyond who would otherwise travel by car to the Hague, to promote parking at the Transferium and continuing the journey by bus; the aim was to reduce road traffic congestion between Leiden and The Hague. The test was paid by the province of South Holland. It was discontinued in 2005.
• Renesse (mun. Schouwen-Duiveland), Netherlands – free bus services in the area (in summer only)

New Zealand

• Invercargill, New Zealand - previously had various fare free services.

Russia

• Moscow, Russia -
  • Bus stops near Auchan shopping center are near RightBank (Pravoberezhnaya) street and Sevastopolsky lane +Mytyshi. Thus, the buses half-officially are used by local residents and offices and even have unofficial "A" number and two more form "Real" shopping centers (bought from Metro C&C). In 2016 almost all hypermarkets added (not available at Sokolniki, Mamyry and before SVO loop). In case of closure, the buses to nearest hypermarket added earlier
  • Aviapark trade center: 8:00-24:00 two routes to nearest metro stations with all stops and low intervals and one additional bus to residents (20 min interval)
  • Sadovod +South gate trade area: 6:00-16:00-18:00 free buses to four metro stations each and between the markets (To "Moscow" trade center too). These routes don't have intermediate stops except "Bird market" and stop near Mega trade center (about 15:00)
  • Stankolit platform area serviced by a variety of free routes because this area is not accessible except by long walking by foot on daytime from November 2002 (tram service terminated, low train service by mornings and everings).
  • During Easter Sundays, the Sunday before and after, buses and some trolleys to cemeteries are free but intermediate stops are cancelled unless they are high passengers turnover, park-and-ride stops, or if there is another cemetery (some unique track routes keep all stops). The system is criticised because it strongly lowers service on regular routes and religions. In Zelenograd district with specific: the routes do not change (except discarding peak hours two-stops branch on route 1 and 2) are free to cemetery and to riders originating at cemeteries (because cemeteries are terminus stops at all routes), otherwise requires a fare
• Moscow Oblast
  • Trains on Big Circle Railway road are free at most times due to very low traffic (3 to 6 pairs per day), the fare is required only on some stops that transferring with main directions from the Moscow and part on Kazanskaya railway or Yaroslavskaya railway unless the conductor goes in the train (penalty fare does not apply, the cash offices are the exceptions on this road).
  • Buses to Globus (hypermarket) in Pushkino (earlier to Shelkovo, two routes were diverted later) and Podolsk allow to ride about 20 km for free, and return with small purchase required. Many routes have unique track, and even one unique stops (in city). In additional they have one route from 2 metro stations to Krasnogorsk shop (shared with Leroy Merlin)
• Football

On the game days only (+4 hours after the end) in 2017/2018 all S-bahn trains (but limited to border of the subject where the match goes +Moscow oblast, Leningradskaya oblast or termini station, for example to Klin is free, to Redkino or Tver not, for Nara is free, Obninsk is not) and metro in Moscow, Saint Peterburg, Kazan, Samara, Ekaterinburg, premetre (tram) in Volgograd are free with Fan ID and ticket. And some bus, trolleybus and tram routes. In additional booking for specialized trains is available.

• • may book
  • must use the assigned trains (game day ± 2–3 days) for free. The most popular trains like Red Arrow and Sapsan remains paid.
  • must register at police/post office/hotel with 24 hours from arriving if you stay for 2 nights in single city (Russia/Belarus by 3 days)
  • you may book two tickets for one match but from/to the same city, or book only one. The total number is unlimited (in Confederation cup all 3+2 matches or even 3*2+2 if move from Moscow and Saint Peterburg)
  • FAN must check at turnstile and keep the football ticket for return from the game and don't foul
  • these trains go without stops
  • Aeroexpress trains in Moscow are free with game day ± 2 days any time but only twice to one Fan ID. The full-stops trains to DME, bus 911 to VKO and SVO-SPARTAK shuttle don't drain the counter but free on the game day only.
• Voronezh, Russia - buses with letter "H" (n) were free to anybody and go by their own network and timetable

Thailand

• Bangkok, Thailand – free bus service on 800 buses along 73 routes.^[24]

United Kingdom

• Cardiff – The T9 bus from Cardiff city centre to Cardiff Airport is free on weekends.
• Greater Manchester:
  • Bolton Metroshuttle bus services link Bolton railway station, bus station and town centre leisure attractions.
  • Manchester Metroshuttle bus services operate every 5 minutes on route 1 and every 10 minutes on routes 2 and 3. These busses operate in Manchester city centre between 07:00 and 19:00. Three different routes connect Piccadilly, Victoria, Oxford Road, Deansgate and Salford Central railway stations, Shudehill Interchange, Chorlton Street and Piccadilly Gardens bus and coach terminal, Metrolink tram stations and National Car Parks with other areas of the city.
  • Oldham Metroshuttle links Oldham Mumps tram stop with the bus station, sports centre and shopping centre.
  • Stockport Metroshuttle links Stockport railway station with the bus station, supermarkets and leisure attractions. This service was formerly known as the Stockport Shuttlebus, but was rebranded in line with other zero-fare bus services in Greater Manchester.
• Greenhithe, North Kent - Free bus service to the Bluewater Shopping Centre; users must have a valid train ticket which names Greenhithe station.
• Ipswich – A free shuttle bus service runs on a circular route around the town centre linking the site of the former County Council headquarters to the replacement building.^[25]
• London
  • All Transport for London buses run a free service around Heathrow Airport.
  • Heathrow Express and TfL Rail services between Heathrow Central, Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 are free
  • The Woolwich Free Ferry provides a route for cars and pedestrians across the River Thames between Woolwich and North Woolwich in East London.
• Oxford - A 15-seater minibus is run by Geo, an American Immigration Corporation to take passengers on the half-hour journey between Oxford railway station and Campsfield House detention centre near the village of Kidlington and Oxford Airport. It runs every hour, and then every two hours, all afternoon, 7 days a week.
• Reading – Free shuttle between Reading station and Thames Valley Park^[26]
• South Yorkshire, in the two locations of Sheffield and Rotherham, zero-fare city/town centre circular routes operated under the FreeBee branding, the first in the city of Sheffield was launched in 2007, and after its success the scheme was rolled out to Rotherham in 2009. Both were funded by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive.
  • Rotherham – FreeBee runs from Rotherham Interchange every 12 minutes from 08:00 to 18:00 Monday to Saturday.
  • Sheffield – FreeBee ran around the city centre, Monday to Saturday, every seven minutes. The service ended in 2014 due to budget constraints.^[27]
• Southampton – City-link bus between Southampton Central station, Westquay shopping centre and Town Quay for the Isle of Wight ferry services. It is operated for Southampton City Council by Bluestar.
• West Yorkshire, four of the larger settlements covered by the West Yorkshire Metro have zero-fare bus services which are jointly funded by West Yorkshire Metro, local councils and private companies. The services are branded either FreeTownBus or FreeCityBus, depending on whether the location is a town or city (Leeds's FreeCityBus service replaced by LeedsCityBus in 2011, which requires fare-paying or multi-journey tickets for travel):
  • Bradford - FreeCityBus - a free loop service around the city centre.
  • Dewsbury - FreeTownBus - the latest FreeTownBus in West Yorkshire, it was launched in December 2009.
  • Huddersfield - FreeTownBus - a free loop around the town centre operated by Tiger Blue.
  • Wakefield - FreeCityBus - free circular route around the city centre.

United States

• Ann Arbor, Michigan – free bus services between University of Michigan campuses and student housing. Note that most large universities provide a similar kind of bus service. The city bus service, the AATA, is free for students, faculty, and staff of the University of Michigan. The AATA also runs a service called “the Link” which runs between downtown and campus area and is currently free (for everyone) to ride. While individual rides are “free”, typically students pay a transportation service fee as part of their tuition and fee charges.
• Baltimore, Maryland – Charm City Circulator; 4 routes of up to ≈ 5 km (3.1 mi) crossing city center in various directions.
• Bennington, Vermont – the Green Mountain Express Emerald Line is a fare-free route between there and Wilmington operating weekday afternoons, morning trips are run in collaboration with the Southeast Vermont Transit’s “MOOver”.
• Buffalo, New York – Free Metro Rail transit from Special Events Station to Theater Station.
• Charlottesville, Virginia – A free motorized trolley links the campus of the University of Virginia to the downtown area.
• Corvallis, Oregon – Transit system is entirely fareless.
• Dallas, Texas – McKinney Avenue Transit Authority heritage trolley transports riders along a three-mile stretch from downtown to uptown McKinney Avenue seven days a week, 365 days a year.
• Denver, Colorado – Free 16th Street Mall shuttle bus downtown between Civic Center and Union Station. To replace an aging fleet of iconic hybrid buses, in 2015, RTD ordered a new BYD fleet, expecting delivery by the end of 2016^[28] but fleet delivery was delayed into summer 2017.^[29] In spring 2014, RTD added a new rush-hour MetroRide route between Union Station and Civic Center Station along 18th and 19th Streets. From 6-9AM and 3-6PM, the 60-foot articulated buses run at 5-minute intervals.^[30][31]
• East Palo Alto, California has a free East Palo Alto Community Shuttle
• Houston, Texas – The 412 Greenlink Downtown Circulator Bus uses environmentally friendly Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses to provide free weekday service to major office buildings and free weekend service and evening service Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights serving the Theater District and Toyota Center sports venue.^[32]
• Hyannis, Massachusetts – CCRTA operates a free shuttle loop on Main Street and many of the downtown beaches during July and August each year.
• Jacksonville, Florida – Jacksonville Transportation Authority operates a free people mover system in Downtown Jacksonville called the Skyway.
• Kansas City, Missouri – RideKC operates a free streetcar in Downtown Kansas City called the KC Streetcar
• Lancaster, California – Antelope Valley Transit Authority offers free rides to all riders who are senior citizens, disabled, active military, and veterans, on all its local fixed routes buses. (With id)
• Logan, Utah – The Cache Valley Transit District serves the City of Logan, Utah and the Cache County area based on a sales tax. Special rides available to the disabled and extra buses available for during rush periods for university and public education students. Limited service Saturdays; no service Sundays.
• Long Beach, California – The “Passport” shuttles are free within the downtown area (west of Alamitos Ave.)
• Maui County, Hawaii, pop 128,000: Maui Bus, on the Kahului and Wailuku Loop, plus the Lahaina Villager Routes.^[33]
• Miami, Florida – Miami Metromover is a free people mover in Downtown Miami.
• Minneapolis, Minnesota –
  • Select Metro Transit buses are free along Nicollet Mall between the Convention Center and Washington Ave.
  • The University of Minnesota Campus Shuttle has 4 routes that serve the Minneapolis and nearby St. Paul campuses. The system carried more than 3.5 million riders in 2008.^[34]
• Monterey County, California – During the summer, the Monterey-Salinas Transit operates four free routes called the “MST Trolley”, each one going around the downtown areas of one of the four main cities: Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove, and Salinas.
• Mountain Village, Colorado – Free cable car to Telluride and shuttle bus.^[35]
• New Haven, Connecticut – The Union Station Shuttle is a free transit bus that operates between Union Station and Downtown. In addition to the train station, the bus also stops at various parking facilities, Gateway Community College, and the New Haven Green at the center of Downtown. The bus runs every 20 minutes from 6 am to 10 pm.
• New York City, New York and vicinity:
  • The Staten Island Railway is free of charge to riders originating and terminating at stations other than St. George or Tompkinsville.
  • The Staten Island Ferry operates between Whitehall, Manhattan and St. George, Staten Island 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Fare collection ended in 1997.
  • The Airtrain at JFK Airport is free within the terminal loop, but requires a fare at the Jamaica and Howard Beach stations.
  • The Airtrain at Newark Liberty International Airport is free, except to and from the Amtrak/New Jersey Transit station. In that case, the fare is included in the price of the train ticket. New Jersey Transit monthly pass holders must pay an extra $5.50 to ride AirTrain, unless they set EWR as the source or destination stop for their pass.
• Oakland, California – There is a free Broadway shuttle that operates along Broadway in downtown.
• Orlando, Florida and vicinity:
  • There is a free downtown circulator called the Lynx Lymmo,^[36] also a rare example of free BRT service.
  • Disney Transport provides free bus, ferry, and monorail service within Walt Disney World.
• Palo Alto, California operates two bus lines, the Embarcadero Shuttle and the Crosstown shuttle. Both are free.
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania offers free transportation between terminals A through E of Philadelphia International Airport on the SEPTA Airport Line trains, which run every 30 minutes. Transportation on this train into Center City Philadelphia and other destinations is available but requires payment. Transportation between the airport terminals can also be accomplished by using concourses and moving walkways and through two free shuttle bus routes operated by US Airways.
• Phoenix, Arizona – offers the FLASH Forward and FLASH Back routes from Arizona State University around Tempe, Arizona as well as Orbit routes which serve Tempe.
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania offers free public transit within their downtown areas.
• Portland, Oregon – From 1975 until 2010, all transit service was free within “Fareless Square”, a 330 square-block zone that encompassed all of downtown Portland, and from 2010 to September 2012 it remained free for light rail and streetcar service (but not buses), renamed the “Free Rail Zone”.
• Salt Lake City, Utah — Bus and light-rail service is free within the downtown Free Fare Zone.^[37]
• San Francisco, California – A free shuttle is operated between San Francisco State University and Daly City BART.
• San Jose, California – The Santa Clara VTA runs a free bus in downtown San Jose connecting the San Jose Diridon Station with San Jose State University. This bus is called DASH. There’s also a free bus that connects VTA light rail, the Santa Clara Caltrain station, and the San Jose Mineta International Airport. This bus is route 10, called the Free Flyer.
• Savannah, Georgia – Chatham Area Transit operates the dot Express Shuttle on a 12-stop loop throughout the historic district. In addition the city offers the fare free River Street Streetcar and Savannah Belles Ferry to Hutchinson Island.^[38]
• Seattle, Washington – Metro Transit buses were free from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm in Downtown Seattle (the “Ride Free Area”) until September 29, 2012.^[39][40]
• Springfield, Missouri - Missouri State University operates the Bear Line which is free to the public.^[41][42]
• State College, Pennsylvania – CATA runs four routes that offer bus service between the Penn State campus and downtown State College, an addition to two regional service routes that do not charge fare if they are only traveling across campus.
• Tacoma, Washington – Tacoma Link light rail operated by Sound Transit has no fare. It runs 1.6 miles (2.6 km) from Tacoma Dome Station into Downtown Tacoma and is anticipated to remain fare-free until 2022.^[43]
• Walnut Creek, California – County Connection operates the Route 4, a free shuttle that serves Downtown Walnut Creek.
• Yountville, California – A free shuttle is operated by Napa Vine around Yountville.

References