We’ve seen a healthy jump in rider enrollments over the last several months. For April and May, total enrollments were roughly four times the monthly average in 2024.
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We’ve seen a healthy jump in rider enrollments over the last several months. For April and May, total enrollments were roughly four times the monthly average in 2024. The addition of SacRT and Nevada County earlier this year greatly expanded our pool of eligible riders. SBMTD is now actively marketing the option for riders to tap-to-pay. MST and SBMTD are enrolling riders in-person when digital enrollment is challenging or not an option. All of these levers are helping more riders get reduced fares. We expect this trend to continue as new agencies in the Ventura and Sacramento regions onboard to Cal-ITP Benefits in the second half of the year.
As enrollments increase, the data is more interesting too. We’re getting a better picture of how agencies and riders use the Benefits app. Today let’s look at what benefit options riders chose to verify their eligibility for reduced fares. Here’s a breakdown of total enrollments by benefit option thus far in 2025.
A few insights:
Adding the Medicare cardholders enrollment pathway late last year was an important addition to our menu of benefit options. This option gives most adults 65 and older a choice—either Login.gov or Medicare.gov—to verify their eligibility. It also helps us begin to support digital enrollment for riders with disabilities.
Healthy enrollment numbers from older adults challenge the notion that older adults prefer non-digital options or won’t use digital enrollment. Older adults ride transit and are utilizing our digital tool to enroll for reduced fares. A third of all enrolled riders verified their eligibility as adults 65 and over. The majority of Medicare cardholders are also 65 or older. Thus, we can surmise that well over half of the enrollments this year are older adults.
Prior to adopting Cal-ITP Benefits, none of the agencies using the app offered Veterans reduced fares. Veterans currently account for nearly a quarter of all enrollments. Three of the four agencies live in the Benefits app now offer a transit benefit to Veterans. Once an agency is live in Benefits, turning on a new benefit option is simple. If you offer it, they will enroll; more enrollments result in increased ridership and more equity.
While we always see a bump in enrollments when new agencies first announce the availability of Cal-ITP Benefits, consistent enrollment over time happens when agencies actively market their solution to riders. Next month, Cal-ITP Customer Success will share a guide with agencies to help them leverage local relationships and initiatives in existing community networks to amplify awareness of Cal-ITP Benefits. Healthy enrollments increase ridership and equity, but they also help drive adoption of contactless payments and the eventual retirement of legacy fare collection systems.
How does the breakdown in enrollments in your current benefit program compare to those in Cal-ITP Benefits? Let us know at hello@calitp.org. We're eager to understand what agencies need to run a successful transit benefits program.
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See a full list of monthly updates about Cal-ITP Benefits in our newsletter archive.
Total rider enrollments using the Cal-ITP Benefits app. We aim to surpass 425 enrollments by the end of 2025.
6889
Total reduced-fare, open-loop transactions
Total reduced-fare, open-loop transactions processed at California transit agencies that have adopted Cal-ITP Benefits. We aim to surpass 10,000 transactions in 2025.
↑ 43%
Percentage increase in reduced-fare transactions vs. previous month
Month over month change in reduced-fare, open loop transactions. This activity represents concrete usage of contactless payment by people who benefit from reduced fares.
We're working to make Cal-ITP Benefits a complete discount program solution that allows transit providers to transition fully to contactless payments for fare collection.
Have questions or concerns about how benefits will work for your agency?
Cal-ITP Benefits addresses several of Cal-ITP's key goals to improve transit throughout California:
Promote equitable access to transit
Lower costs
Increase Ridership
Improve customer experience
The project also seeks to expand adoption of open-loop payments and supports efforts to provide accurate and complete information for planning trips on public transit in real-time. Learn more about Cal-ITP.
Transit providers! Visit the Mobility Marketplace for a catalog of code-compliant products and services offered by Cal-ITP to support your operations.
