The Free Rail Zone is an area within Portland, Oregon where all TriMet light rail and Portland Streetcar rides are zero-fare (free). It primarily consists of the downtown area and the Lloyd District. Established in 1975,[1] it was known as Fareless Square until 2010, and until then had included free rides on buses as well as on trains.[2] The Free Rail Zone is similar to downtown free-fare transit zones in Seattle (established in 1973), Pittsburgh (since 1985) and Salt Lake City[3] (since 1985),[4] except for the recent change limiting its coverage to rail services. That change makes the current zone similar to one in Calgary, Alberta, which applies only to light rail.
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The boundary of the westside portion of the Free Rail Zone starts at the west foot of the Marquam Bridge, heads northwest along Interstate 405 to Northwest Irving Street, east to the Steel Bridge, then southward along the western shore of the Willamette River. The boundary of the eastside section starts at the east foot of the Steel Bridge, heads northwest to North Interstate Avenue to Multnomah Street, then east to the 1400 block of Northeast Multnomah Street, south to Northeast Holladay Street, and west to the Steel Bridge. By implication the entirety of the Steel Bridge is within the Free Rail Zone.
According to the TriMet code, the free-ride zone is created "within Zone 1" and does not constitute a separate fare zone.
Adopted in 1975 to combat limited parking and air pollution,[5] Fareless Square initially encompassed the area of downtown Portland between the Willamette River and I-405, north of Southwest Market Street and south of Northwest Hoyt Street. On April 3, 1977,[6] it was expanded southward to the point where I-405 meets the river at the Marquam Bridge. A minor adjustment of Fareless Square occurred during the 1990s in order to include the stops for Union Station (Amtrak), by extending the northern limits of the area by one block to Northwest Irving Street.
In 2001 Fareless Square was extended again, this time across the river to the Lloyd District. Included were MAX stations along Holladay Street and bus stops on NE Multnomah Street from the Rose Quarter, past the Oregon Convention Center to the Lloyd Center shopping mall. This was a panhandle-shaped addition to the original free-fare zone, and consequently Fareless Square was, strictly speaking, no longer square-shaped but retained its name. In 2007, a pair of stops directly in front of Union Station, added with Portland Mall construction and north of Hoyt Street, were added to the zone . The free-service area currently covers 1.35 square miles (3.5 km2).[5]
Officials attempted to terminate Fareless Square in 1986, but public support for it prevailed.[5]
In January 2009, TriMet again raised the idea of reducing the validity of Fareless Square or possibly imposing a discounted fare, of $1, in the area concerned, this time in conjunction with a need to trim its budget in response to a regional economic downturn.[5][7] In addition, consultants have cited the number of drug dealers which use buses in the fareless zone for transportation.[8]
In 2009, the idea of eliminating fareless service on buses was introduced, primarily because most trips on within the fareless area would be served by MAX and the Portland Streetcar, including trips on the new Portland Transit Mall light rail route. In addition, drivers complained about passengers boarding buses for a few stops within the fareless area, slowing down longer distance riders. Tri-Met stated that 93% of all trips made within the fareless zone can be made via the rail system. In addition, to alleviate concerns about seniors and the disabled in the downtown losing access to free service, a photo ID card would be provided to residents living within the current fareless boundaries to ride transit within the current boundary for $10 for two years.[9]
The Portland Business Alliance and tourism bureau supported the move. The estimated loss of revenue due to rides being free in the fareless zone is $800,000.[8] In August 2009, the TriMet board approved an ordinance to discontinue the fareless zone on buses but retain it for MAX and the Portland Streetcar. The change took effect in 2010, with the zone renamed the "Free Rail Zone."[2][10][11]
From time to time, some in the Portland area have called for Fareless Square to be abolished, for various reasons.
As bus drivers could only request, but not require, payment of fares on bus boardings within Fareless Square, critics of TriMet alleged that the existence of Fareless Square facilitated fare evasion, and thus lost revenue, which must be made up by other means, such as taxation. In particular, riders who board in Fareless Square without paying a fare and then knowingly travel beyond the zone's boundaries would be evading fare. Transfers were given to all passengers who paid fares within the fareless zone, which were subject to inspection by fare inspectors or drivers at the first stop outside of the fareless boundary. However, in practice, drivers did not systematically enforce fare collection on bus trips taken from points inside the fare-free zone to points outside it. (In other cities with fareless zones, pay-on-exit is used on trips leaving the fareless area.)
On the MAX Light Rail and Portland Streetcar lines, a proof-of-payment fare system (or "honor" fare system) is used, so the application of the Free Rail Zone means that fare inspectors do not check passengers' fares within the free-fare zone.
In late 2007, a series of attacks against TriMet passengers, particularly on the MAX Blue Line in Gresham, led to increased public scrutiny of the security of the Portland transit system as a whole. Fareless Square was called into question as part of this inquiry, as it was alleged that the perpetrators of such offenses were often fare evaders who boarded TriMet in Fareless Square, and who then traveled to other areas (such as Gresham) without paying any fare, and that more stringent fare collection would keep such "undesirables" off the trains. TriMet's general manager proposed limiting the hours of Fareless Square to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.[12] However, others questioned the logic of linking incidents of crime in Gresham with the existence of a free transit zone located several miles away, in downtown Portland, and TriMet's own statistics showed that in 2007 the agency received very few complaints about activities such as drug dealing and panhandling in Fareless Square.[13] TriMet held two public hearings on January 16, 2008 to help determine the future of Fareless Square but, after receiving a large volume of comment from the public, decided to not make any immediate changes.[1]
Other commentators have periodically called for eliminating fares altogether on TriMet, financing the public transportation system entirely through taxation.
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