You know when it’s election season because Democrats begin offering free things. But there’s always a catch.
Mayor Karen Bass wants to make riding Metro trains and buses free — but somebody still has to pay the fare.
Bass, who now chairs the Metro Board, says she wants a long-term financial strategy to eventually eliminate fares on L.A. County buses and trains.
But Metro has previously estimated a fare-free system could cost the region more than $1 billion a year.
There’s an important catch to that number: Metro isn’t currently collecting anywhere near a billion dollars in fares. It collected about $175 million last fiscal year and expects roughly $150 million this year — down from around $250 million annually before the pandemic.
And just like candidate for governor Xavier Becerra calling Power Hour free to utility customers, Bass can’t call it fares fro Metro riders free. Somebody is going to pay for it.
