Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Should Public Transit Be Free? More Cities Say, Why Not? Mayors are considering waiving fares for bus service as a way to fight inequality and lower carbon emissions. Critics wonder who will pay for it.
New York Times ^ | January 14, 2020 | Ellen Barry

Posted on 01/15/2020 11:51:56 AM PST by karpov

LAWRENCE, Mass. — Dionisia Ramos gets on the 37 bus twice a day, rooting through her handbag to dig out the fare and drop it into the slot, so it came as shock several months ago when the bus driver reached out his hand to stop her.

“You don’t have to pay,” he said. “It’s free for the next two years.”

Ms. Ramos had never heard of anything like this: Someone was paying her bus fare? At 55, she lives on a monthly unemployment check for $235. So saving $2.40 a day, for her trip to and from community college, past the hulking mills of Lawrence’s industrial past — that meant something.

Since a pilot program began in September, use of the buses has grown by 24 percent, and the only criticism Ms. Ramos has of the city’s experiment with fare-free transit is that it’s not permanent.

“Transportation should be free,” she said. “It’s a basic need. It’s not a luxury.”

That argument is bubbling up in lots of places these days, as city officials cast about for big ideas to combat inequality and reduce carbon emissions. Some among them cast transportation as a pure public good, more like policing and less like toll roads.

The City Council in Worcester, Massachusetts’ second-largest city, expressed strong support last week for waiving fares for its buses, a move that would cost between $2 and $3 million a year in lost fares. And fare-free transit is the splashiest policy recommendation of Michelle Wu, a Boston City Council member who is expected by many to run for mayor in 2021.

Larger experiments are underway in other parts of the country. The cities of Kansas City, Mo., and Olympia, Wash., both declared that their buses would become fare-free this year.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: buses; masstransit
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-96 next last
To: Amendment10
...Avoiding turning left turned into a cost-cutting advantage for UPS....

I've practiced that for many years in traffic. Whether it saved in the long run, I wasn't sure, but sitting and waiting for a clear left can drive a person nuts.

21 posted on 01/15/2020 12:12:50 PM PST by gloryblaze
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: karpov

We live in an era of global dominance of the US dollar, printed money and massive debt. The unprecedented confluence of these things support the fantasies and social-engineering of American collectivists and progressives, and has for generation. It has convinced socialists that there is money everywhere for their schemes.

When the bubble pops, leftist cities will get very ugly as they face the huge gap between their ideological fantasies and expectations, and the money to pay for them.


22 posted on 01/15/2020 12:16:59 PM PST by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Vigilanteman

“Anyone who tries to use them as toilets or sleeping lounges …”

That’s exactly what would happen if they were free. And in winter, they’d be full of homeless people riding them to stay out of the cold.


23 posted on 01/15/2020 12:17:43 PM PST by nuconvert ( Warning: Accused of being a radical militarist. Approach with caution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Who will pay for it?

The infamous “They”, is who!


24 posted on 01/15/2020 12:18:59 PM PST by ImpBill (Conservative voter sans political Party!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Taxes would pay for it.

It is not an entirely stupid proposition. They built roads, and we all can use them, for the most part, without paying. Instead, we pay tax on the gas we buy, which sometimes gets used to pay for roadwork.

We have police, and fire and rescue, available whenever we need them, and for the most part, we don’t pay for those services.

We have bike paths, we have parks, and often they are free, and our taxes pay for them.

Sidewalks make it easier for us to walk places; we have crossing lights to protect us from cars, and we don’t pay a user fee for either of them.

And often times, it is free to park on the streets, while other times the meters are turned on and you pay — which means sometimes, we are getting a free service paid for with our taxes.

Yes, the bus service costs money to operate, but if the city residents decide that the ability to move freely about the city is valuable enough to pay for with their tax dollars, why not? Not having to collect money should make things more efficient, lead to less crime because people won’t be stealing the money.

And if this makes it more likely people won’t own a car, that takes cars off the streets, which is a good thing in congested cities, IF IT IS THE CHOICE OF THE OWNERS, rather than dictated by the government.


25 posted on 01/15/2020 12:20:03 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

The public transportation system in the Denver area is good, but it only gets 15% of its budget from fares. The rest is from taxes collected by the counties in the Denver area. So most people who aren’t using it still pay for it.


26 posted on 01/15/2020 12:22:08 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PGR88

You are correct.

However, I expect the bubble will not pop within our lifetimes. Probably not for decades. Nearly everyone on the planet has a vested interest in that NOT happening, so it will only happen when all else is exhausted.


27 posted on 01/15/2020 12:23:12 PM PST by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: karpov

“she lives on a monthly unemployment check for $235”

BULLSH*T!


28 posted on 01/15/2020 12:26:40 PM PST by dynachrome (Build the wall, deport them all. And send her back!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

folks that pay a dollar to ride the bus can not pay 10 to uber


29 posted on 01/15/2020 12:31:02 PM PST by Jolla
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

These lines are not paying for themselves already.

Not one metropolitan mass transit light rail system pays it’s own way.

The highest attempt at it was something like 65% of the total cost paid for by fees.

Most are far below that level.

Evidently the second article below lists a very few cities whose mass transit district’s (out of 1,800) fees cover all expenses for light rail, buses, and any other modes.

Why Does Everyone Want Public Transit To Pay For Itself?

https://aquicore.com/blog/everyone-want-public-transit-pay/

How Much Money U.S. Transit Systems Lose Per Trip, in 1 Chart

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2015/06/how-much-money-us-transit-systems-lose-per-trip-in-1-chart/395189/


30 posted on 01/15/2020 12:32:44 PM PST by DoughtyOne (The Leftistist media and particularly CNN NEWS should come with a ten day supply of Cipro.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

I pay $1.10 now I’m a senior.


31 posted on 01/15/2020 12:34:21 PM PST by Lisbon1940 (No full-term Governors (at the time of election))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nuconvert

> As bad as they are to ride now, they’ll be even worse & more dangerous if no one has to pay. <

Good point. There is an amusement park about ten miles from me. It had free admission. You just paid for the rides you rode on. Well, that place became thug and bum central. Not child-friendly at all.

So the park did the sensible thing. It started to charge admission. Things have since calmed down a bit.


32 posted on 01/15/2020 12:34:25 PM PST by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: nuconvert

. . . IOW, this kind of crap (plus the aggressive panhandling) would turn them into barnyards on wheels to the point that normal people would stop riding them. But I apologize to barnyard animals which are better behaved.


33 posted on 01/15/2020 12:36:01 PM PST by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Well ok, I’ll keep driving my Z06 Corvette.


34 posted on 01/15/2020 12:36:40 PM PST by Gator113 ( ~~Trump 2020 and again in 2024. EPSTEIN WAS MURDERED. "Seditious Conspiracy" is everywhere.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Buses in my area covered windows with ‘art’ so drivers couldn’t see a bus designed to hold 70 people was carrying two citizens.

Biggest advantage for cities is NOT having to create reports showing how few people use these behemoths...


35 posted on 01/15/2020 12:40:44 PM PST by GOPJ (Glacier National Park removed signs warning glaciers will be gone by 2020 (ten year old sign))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Money grows on trees—everybody in the cargo cult knows that!


36 posted on 01/15/2020 12:43:19 PM PST by cgbg (The Democratic Party is morphing into the Donner Party)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

TNSTAAFL 101
The day the “progressives” take that class and pass is the day we can relax.


37 posted on 01/15/2020 12:47:36 PM PST by griswold3 (Democratic Socialism is Slavery by Mob Rule)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov
How do you keep up with repairs ?

Nebah happin, GI !

38 posted on 01/15/2020 12:48:38 PM PST by knarf (I say things that are true.... I have no proof, but they're true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gloryblaze; All
"I've practiced that for many years in traffic. Whether it saved in the long run, I wasn't sure, but sitting and waiting for a clear left can drive a person nuts."

I hope that you’ve saved some money.

If cities can likewise save on public transit fuel, theoretically can help pay for roundabouts.

In fact, since drivers that would otherwise get stuck behind left-turning vehicles might feel gas savings from straight and right-turn driving, local taxpayers can also temporarily help pay for roundabouts.

39 posted on 01/15/2020 12:48:58 PM PST by Amendment10
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: karpov; All
".... Critics wonder who will pay for it...."

Well, DUH!

Ask Bernie how his system of "free stuff" works. He seems to have it figured out. 😂

40 posted on 01/15/2020 12:50:12 PM PST by HotHunt (Been there. Done that.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-96 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson