Iowa City Made Its Buses Free. Traffic Cleared, and So Did the Air.

[marble falls]

Iowa City Made Its Buses Free. Traffic Cleared, and So Did the Air.

Ridership jumped, people cut back on driving and, over the summer, the city extended the program another year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/climate/iowa-city-free-buses.html

By Cara Buckley

Photographs and Video by Annick Sjobakken

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Nov. 18, 2025

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Iowa City eliminated bus fares in August 2023 with a goal of lowering emissions from cars and encouraging people to take public transit. The two-year pilot program proved so popular that the City Council voted this summer to extend it another year, paying for it with a 1 percent increase in utility taxes and by doubling most public parking rates to $2 from $1.

Ridership has surpassed prepandemic levels by 18 percent. Bus drivers say they’re navigating less congested streets. People drove 1.8 million fewer miles on city streets, according to government calculations, and emissions dropped by 24,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. That’s the equivalent of taking 5,200 vehicles off the roads.

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Since the fare-free program began, people in Iowa City have driven 1.8 million fewer miles and emissions have fallen by 24,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, the same as taking 5,200 vehicles off the roads.

But in Iowa City, a college town and home to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, objections to free buses, and even parking fee increases, have been muted. One exception was in the summer of 2024, when fees on parking meters downtown were increased to $3 from $1.50. After nearby businesses complained, the city reduced the cost to $2.25. That increase felt reasonable, said Betsy Potter, executive director of the Iowa City Downtown District; the rates hadn’t been raised in 11 years


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