In its previous newsletter, the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative shared the MBTA’s announcement of their expanding access to reduced fares for income-eligible riders beginning Wednesday, September 4, 2024.

The MBTA and advocates that pushed for policy changes, including Mass Senior Action Council (MSAC), have shared clarifications on the announcement:

• Anyone who is currently age of 65+ by September 16 will automatically been given the senior fare on trips booked starting September 4th. In other words, all seniors currently using the RIDE will not need to complete an application to access the new reduced fare—they will automatically get the discount.
• Anyone who joins The RIDE after Sept. 4th as a senior or becomes a senior after September 16 will need to complete the Senior Fare application form, which will include the RIDE ID field starting September 16.
• As was mentioned in the original announcement and program launch on September 4, RIDE customers enrolled in the Senior or income-eligible reduced fare programs will also be able to use an online form to link their reduced fare eligibility to their RIDE accounts and receive a discounted rate on Standard or Premium RIDE trips.
• Individuals under 65 must complete an application to see if they are income-qualified.

Thanks to MassDOT, MBTA and Mass Senior Action for the additional information. Additional thanks go out to Mass Senior Action Council for their advocacy and partnership with the MBTA to enroll older people automatically to ensure seniors without online access do not face barriers to the discount. According to MSAC, 17,000 seniors who use the RIDE will now pay half price for all of their trips.