Success - Success Stories

Everybody Rides Metro (ERM) Foundation

In 2006, PTM’s customer system in Cincinnati, Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) began a model program to assure that no poor Cincinnatian who needed access to transit was denied service because the fares were too costly for them.

SORTA formed a 501(c)3 corporation call the “Everybody Rides Metro (ERM)” Foundation. The mission of ERM is to secure funding from private and public sources and to use those funds to buy tokens and transit passes from Metro and distribute them through qualified social service agencies to the neediest citizens.

The ERM Foundation has its own Board, and operates as an independent entity. It solicits contributions from philanthropists, corporations, employees and others. ERM has proven to be invaluable during and immediately after Metro’s recent fare increases by mitigating the impact on the most vulnerable bus riders, while the Authority’s fares to keep pace with rising costs.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) recently recognized SORTA and the ERM Foundation with the 2008 Innovation Award.