While negotiations for state funding continue, the Vineyard Transit Authority will continue offering free bus rides well into next year, and possibly for the second summer in a row.
On Thursday morning, Angie Gompert, administrator of the public bus service, told the VTA advisory board that free public bus fares are expected to continue through May. If negotiations go well, the bus service may be able to provide free rides to passengers until next September.
“I have the boxing gloves on,” Gompert said, noting she’s had “very spirited conversations” with her colleagues to make sure the VTA gets what it needs.
While Gompert expects to have a clear answer by the end of the month, it remains to be seen whether the program can continue into 2027.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has set aside $35 million for fiscal year 2026 to subsidize free rides for passengers across the state, a $5 million increase from last year. Gompert highlighted that this would fund all 15 regional transit authorities — including the most recent additions of Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority and GATRA, which serves 30 communities including Attleboro and Taunton — but wasn’t enough to cover free fares for all of the transportation systems for a whole year. That’s even with a change that restricts the funds to fixed bus routes, which Gompert said would disburse a collective $1 million among the transit authorities.
“The money for fiscal year ’26 will work, but we need to do a very thorough job of getting the legislature to understand the magnitude of what the delta is,” Gompert said.
And the Vineyard’s public bus line wouldn’t just abruptly halt free rides. Gompert said the VTA is required to plan at least six weeks in advance before collecting fares again.
Meanwhile, bus ridership on the Island has recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic with the free ride program. Gompert said June 2025 was significantly higher than August 2024, which is traditionally the peak of the summer season. July and August 2025 were comparable to the VTA’s “glory years,” with ridership at around 9,000 per day and more than 10,000 per day, respectively.
Another factor that raises uncertainty in the future of the free rides program is that the state legislature recently stripped transit advisory boards of their power to set fares. Gompert said despite the subsidy, some regional transit authorities collected fares while others didn’t. She said this was the state legislature’s attempt to “level the playing field a bit” among communities with disparate economic situations. She also noted that demand for free public bus rides varied across the state.