Does this come from a social services budget or is it just the usual cross-subsidy between classes of riders? The MTC web site says it comes from state and agency-internal funding sources, which is very nearly the opposite of what I suggested.

"To implement the Clipper START pilot program, MTC committed roughly $17 million from the State Transit Assistance (STA) program, the statewide Low-Carbon Transit Operations Program and CARES Act funds. This will partially offset the loss of fare revenue for transit operators."

GoPass (free multiagency transit in LA County for K-14) is partially funded by CA Department of Education but the school district or community colleges have to kick in the other 60%.

The similar thing here in Boston (called, unfortunately, "Income Eligible Reduced Fares") is for now funded by a direct state appropriation to the MBTA, but like with Clipper START it's only a discount, not just giving monthly passes to people who need them.

(Holders can still *buy* a monthly pass, at the same reduced rate as seniors and other cross-subsidized users -- the T's fare collection system is too outdated to handle multiple classes of reduced fares so there's just one "reduced fare".)

The dedicated funding source helps some, but it would be much to an agency's benefit to have as many passengers as possible on monthly or annual passes rather than pay-per-ride, reducing costs of fare collection. (True even on PoP systems; there is ample evidence from Europe.)