Mayor Kevin C. Foy accepted the first place City Livability Award on behalf of the Town of Chapel Hill during the 2009 Mayors' City Livability Awards Program.

More than 200 cities from around the country were considered for the award, based on three criteria: mayoral leadership, creativity and innovation, and broad impact on the quality of life for residents. Sponsored by Waste Management, Inc., and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the City Livability Award Program recognizes mayors for exemplary leadership in developing and implementing programs that improve the quality of life in their cities.

Chapel Hill won top honors in the category for cities with populations of under 100,000 for creating the fare-free transit program. Since Chapel Hill Transit became fare free in 2002, it has become the second largest transit system in North Carolina. Since that time ridership has risen from 3 million riders a year to over 7 million riders annually projected for 2009.

While some university transit systems provide fare free service for university students, faculty and staff, very few communities provide free transit service to all riders.