The Impacts of Fare-Free Bus Programs on Educational Outcomes of K–12 Students
研究佛罗里达州一项允许K-12学生免费乘坐公交的项目，发现该政策反而降低了出勤率并增加了长期缺勤，揭示了无限制乘车可能带来的意外后果。
With the increasing difficulty in providing student transportation, school districts have increased their collaboration with public transit providers to offer access to public transportation through free or reduced-fare programs. One such program was implemented in Florida, allowing any K–12 student in Leon County to ride the bus for free at any time to any destination. This paper applies the synthetic control method to estimate the impact of this program on school attendance and chronic absenteeism. Surprisingly, our results show negative impacts on both attendance and absenteeism outcomes, highlighting the potential unintended consequences of programs with no restriction on student ridership.