Westchester Calls Fare-Free Holiday Bus Service A Success

WHITE PLAINS, NY — By the Westchester County’s own measure, offering free Bee-Line buses during the holidays was a success.

In November, it was announced that the public would be able to ride Bee-Line buses without paying fares from Nov. 19 through Nov. 27 and Dec. 7 through Dec. 26.

Over the course of the program, according to the county, more than 1.7 million passengers rode the fixed route bus system, generating a 10 percent increase in ridership on weekdays and Saturdays compared to average fall 2020 ridership.

Weekdays and Saturday ridership during the fare-free period reached 95 percent of pre-pandemic numbers, while Sunday were closer to 90 percent, the county said.

During the fare-free period, more than 19,000 ParaTransit reservations were made.

The county estimated that the benefit to the traveling public was about $2.8 million on the fixed route bus system and more than $95,000 on ParaTransit.

County Executive George Latimer said his administration is constantly looking for ways to save Westchester residents money, and when it came to free bus rides, they certainly took advantage of the situation.

“By both saving some extra cash around the holiday season and taking the environmentally friendly mass transit option to get where they needed to go,” he said, “our state-of-the-art Bee-Line bus system showed just how valuable it is for those who live, work or visit Westchester.”

The first free-ride program, during the summer, saw a dramatic increase in ridership, the county said, with a 37 percent increase in riders during June, July and August, compared with March, April and May.

Bee-Line buses serve more than 27 million passengers annually and is the second-largest transit bus fleet in the state.

The system has more than 3,300 bus stops and almost 60 routes. More than 65 percent of all county residents are within walking distance of catching a Bee-Line bus.