A 2· year user-side subsidy experiment that provided the handicapped and the elderly with discounted coupons to be used on buses and taxis was conducted in a small northeastern metropolitan city (Lawrence, Massachusetts, a small city north of Boston). The effect of the user-side subsidy experiment on bus end taxi travel by the elderly population is described. As expected, the subsidy experiment increased the number of trips taken by bus and by taxi. Furthermore, able-bodied elderly (65 years and older) persons who do not own automobiles and handicapped elderly persons who are either employed or students are more likely to purchase discounted bus coupons than the population of elderly penon1 as a whole. Also, the number of walk trips was not affected by the number of bus and taxi trips taken. Therefore, people who have participated in the subsidy program have enjoyed a net increase in mobility (in the form of additional bus and taxi trips) because bus and taxi trips have not simply replaced walk trips.