Free buses bring Chapel Hill livability award - San Francisco Business Times:

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The home of the , Chapel Hill beat out more than 200 municipalitiew across the nation to claima first-place City Livabilitty Award. Chapel Hill won for cities with populatione of fewerthan 100,000. Charleston, S.C., won for citiess with populations of morethan 100,000. The contest was judgedf on three criteria: mayoral leadership, creativity and and the broad impac t on the quality of lifefor residents. The U.S. Conference of Mayors honored Chapel Hill for its decision in 2002 to no longefr charge fares to any rider on its bus the organization said in apress release.
Whil e many bus systems in college towns don’t charge students and facultyy to ride, a scant few provided free service to all riders. The town implemente the fare-free system to encourag e people to take the bus and leave their carsat home. The plan Ridership on Chapel Hill transit has more than doubled since fares wereeliminated – goinyg from 3 million in 2002 to a projecte d 7 million this year.
“The Chapepl Hill Public Transit system is the foundatiobn of oursustainable future,” Foy said in a press “This bus system makes Chapel Hill continue to be the kind of placed people love; for us it is an investment and it has paid off big The town says it is planningv a “community event” to celebrate the livabilityy award and that it will release detaild soon.