Free Public Transportation for City Employees Approved by Common Council

Photo: Central New York Regional Transportation Authority - Centro

The Syracuse Common Council approved Mayor Ben Walsh’s plan to make public transportation available at no cost to employees. The Common Council’s vote was “unanimous,” according to the city sources.

Centro will provide the free transportation service as part of an “employee benefit.” The service goes into effect later in Sep. 2023.

According to Walsh, the city’s commitment to provide Centro bus service as an employee benefit is a model other employers can follow.

City workers will be able to ride Centro buses at no cost by showing their employee identification cards to bus drivers. Service will be available seven days a week on all Centro bus routes.

The city will reimburse the bus system for rides provided to city employees under a three-year agreement with Centro. “We want to make it as easy as possible for our employees to get to and from work and to get anywhere else they need to go. Centro is a convenient and reliable transportation option that we are proud to support,” Walsh said. “In a competitive hiring environment, free Centro service also makes the city an even more attractive place to work– employees who choose Centro can avoid hundreds, even thousands of dollars in costs.”

“We hope this is the first of many such employers to offer this as an option for employees within our system” said Centro Chief Executive Officer Brian Schultz. “Additionally, city employees will be among the first users of our mobile ticketing system that we expect to debut in coming months, further enhancing the user experience.”