MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Riders in Martin County can now hop on the bus for free.<\/p>\n
The county\u2019s public transit system, MARTY, is officially fare-free. County leaders say the goal is to make public transportation more accessible and help people get where they need to go without worrying about the cost.<\/p>\n
Commissioners voted to drop the $1.50 fare November 4th.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty good, everybody\u2019s excited about it,\u201d said Greg Morford, a MARTY rider who takes the bus every day.<\/p>\n
Another rider, Bobby, who often loads his bike on the front rack, says he relies on MARTY to get around without a car.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually every day, it\u2019s very reliable,\u201d Bobby said.<\/p>\n
See also: Florida AG launches investigation into JPMorgan Chase over Trump Media de-banking<\/a><\/p>\n Now their trip doesn\u2019t cost a dime. County officials hope the new fare-free system will make transportation easier and reduce traffic by encouraging more people to use public transit.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonal vehicles are very expensive. Traffic congestion is a hassle. Dump the pump. Get on the MARTY. Give it a try,\u201d said Ash Beecher, Martin County\u2019s Transit Administrator.<\/p>\n Beecher says the MARTY system stretches from the St. Lucie County line to Hobe Sound, with 67 stops, 14 full-size buses, and five paratransit vehicles serving riders across the county.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a dramatic increase in ridership over the years while the fares were in place,\u201d Beecher said. \u201cWe can only imagine what\u2019s next with this new fare-free system.\u201d<\/p>\n The program is funded through a state transportation grant tied to ridership meaning the more people who ride, the more funding the county can receive from the state to keep it going.<\/p>\n Riders can track buses in real time using the MARTY Transit app or by scanning the QR code posted at bus stops to see how far away the next one is.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up utilizing public transportation. I know the importance of it,\u201d Beecher said.<\/p>\n MARTY is expected to remain fare-free for the foreseeable future, and county officials hope the new system will keep more people moving across Martin County \u2014 without the cost.<\/p>\n Find more ways to stay up to date with your latest local news. Sign up for our newsletter<\/a> to get the day’s top headlines delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our YouTube channel <\/a>for the biggest stories and can’t miss video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Riders in Martin County can now hop on the bus for free. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-41467","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}