Boston Globe:  “In Lawrence, a long-struggling city heavily populated by immigrants and the working poor, the decision to spend a small portion of surplus cash on access to transportation is so blindingly simple that it turns out it can actually be a little bit difficult to get your head around: FREE BUS?”

“In some of the poorest communities, this is the only mode of transportation,” Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera said. He’d heard Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu advocate for making the T free, and he got to thinking: Maybe the bus could do more than move people from place to place. “Maybe,” he said, “it should be a way to uplift communities.”