Local News in Brief : Jury Out on RTD Giveaway

Early returns on the RTD’s giveaway of more than 1 million tokens for free bus rides have been inconclusive, and officials say an accurate assessment of the controversial promotion would be too costly to obtain.

Nevertheless, Southern California Rapid Transit District officials say they are pleased with the first-round results of the free-sample ride program. The $500,000 token giveaway, targeted at transit-dependent low-income communities around Los Angeles, is intended to reverse a 15% drop in bus ridership in recent years. It is the largest promotion of its kind attempted by a U.S. transit system and began in January with the distribution of nearly 250,000 tokens by selected Boys Markets.

More than 100,000 of those tokens were used, and hundreds of thousands more will be distributed by El Pollo Loco restaurants and through newspaper supplements in the coming months.

A transit district marketing director has predicted that the promotion will generate 10,000 to 30,000 regular new riders and net millions of dollars in additional income. But the district could lose several hundred thousand dollars if it attracts no additional regular riders and most of the tokens are used by existing paying passengers.