Free MTA rides for a week?

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has asked MTA staff to determine the cost of offering a free transit week on regional bus and rail lines. MTA ridership is up 7.3% versus last year, from 1.5 million in June 2005 to 1.6 million this June. Part of that increase is due to the nearly 20,000 daily boarding on the Orange Line. The mayor notes that a similar program up in the Bay Area caused a 10% spike in ridership during the free week, although the article does not detail whether or not this was sustained. Full story