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: rfreedom4u

...In the form of a gasoline tax. Taxation alters behavior and by tying free transport with a gas tax, they would gain the money for the “free” service, reduce freedom of movement, and create more dependency on them. This I would bet dollars to doughnuts on.


41 posted on 01/15/2020 12:51:48 PM PST by Retrofitted
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: karpov
“Free” bus will definitely draw a better clientele… /s .
42 posted on 01/15/2020 12:53:19 PM PST by urtax$@work (The only kind of memorial is a Burning memorial !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Ah, no cost retirement homes.


43 posted on 01/15/2020 12:53:42 PM PST by umgud
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Hotel on wheels. When the library closes, just ride the bus all night.


44 posted on 01/15/2020 12:54:32 PM PST by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory !!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoughtyOne

Transit here in Pittsburgh was privately run until the early 1960’s.

The county was forced to step in and take it over because of a spate of sudden bankruptcies. NONE of the transit companies were able to operate at a profit.

And I don’t see any reason for that to have changed.


45 posted on 01/15/2020 12:55:37 PM PST by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: karpov

It’s just like the food pantries . . . the people that really need it are unable to show up and the ones that trade food for drugs, cigarettes, etc. are right on it. Rural transportation is also included in our local taxes which most people don’t realize and you wouldn’t believe who hops aboard and where they go.


46 posted on 01/15/2020 12:56:07 PM PST by Maudeen (http://ThereIsHopeinJesus.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov
Most of money collected in fares is used to collect fares.

If all of that fare collection infrastructure and labor was eliminated, the transit operators would probably be ahead of the game.

Plus, the buses would move faster, because there would be no bottleneck getting on.

In Singapore the buses are free. They pull up to the stop and three doors open, and people get on and off much more quickly.


47 posted on 01/15/2020 1:03:06 PM PST by gridlock (ELIMINATE PERVERSE INCENTIVES)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CharlesWayneCT

We do pay for those services through taxes so its not free. Public transit it already paid for through taxes so eliminating fares would increase ridership.

A pubic good should be freely available. If its private transit, like taxis and shuttle vans then one ought to pay for the service provided.

A public service should always be universally accessible.


48 posted on 01/15/2020 1:03:32 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right

They say the reason COSTCO charges an annual fee is to keep the shoplifters out.

If you are willing to pay a fee, you are not the kind of person who steals, generally speaking.


49 posted on 01/15/2020 1:07:13 PM PST by gridlock (ELIMINATE PERVERSE INCENTIVES)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Why should I pay again to ride the bus when I pay for it through my taxes?

I shouldn’t have to pay twice to use a public service. Its a rip off.


50 posted on 01/15/2020 1:08:55 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gridlock

Private businesses need to make a profit. They can and do charge whatever they think the market’s priced at.

I’m all for it.


51 posted on 01/15/2020 1:10:47 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Like any “good” leftist plan, the people who don’t want it, and don’t use it will pay for it.


52 posted on 01/15/2020 1:11:58 PM PST by vpintheak (Leftists are full of "Love, peace" and bovine squeeze.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nuconvert

They just made it free in Kansas City


53 posted on 01/15/2020 1:13:44 PM PST by yldstrk (Bingo! We have a winner!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: vpintheak

You pay for things through taxes you might never use. Have never used fire dept paramedics but I still pay for them.


54 posted on 01/15/2020 1:14:16 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: ImpBill

Santa Claus


55 posted on 01/15/2020 1:16:06 PM PST by yldstrk (Bingo! We have a winner!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Amendment10

I hate those roundabouts, accidents waiting to happen


56 posted on 01/15/2020 1:16:52 PM PST by yldstrk (Bingo! We have a winner!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: karpov
A "low income" person that needs a transportation
should be allowed to walk into any car dealership
and drive away with a nice vehicle. I suggest they
should start with a Lexus and work themselves
up from there every year.

Car dealerships will happy to cooperate in the
name of Social Justice.

57 posted on 01/15/2020 1:18:01 PM PST by StormEye
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gridlock

“...the reason COSTCO charges an annual fee...”
-
How the heck is someone going to shoplift
four #10 cans of green beans
that are shrink-wrapped together?


58 posted on 01/15/2020 1:18:29 PM PST by Repeal The 17th
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

Light rail never produces. The famous BART system in San Francisco went into service in 1972. It has never turned a profit. While I’m tossing a dig it’s way, it’s 78% return on expenses is the best around.

I should confess something at this point. Bart returns far less on it’s outlay, that this indicates. A lot of these transit systems don’t break down their light rail, because it’s return on expense is so poor. They want to keep it popular, so they do their best the hide how poorly light rail’s finances are.

I believe the above included BART, bus service, and the trolly system in San Francisco.

Check out the chart down about a page and a half.

You will probably be somewhat amazed at how bad it is, even if you thought you knew how bad it was.

Los Angeles gets 27% on the dollar back in fees charged.

Enjoy paying your gasoline taxes folks. The riders of these mess transit systems certainly appreciate it. (Ha! Don’t kid yourself!)


59 posted on 01/15/2020 1:19:19 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 45 | View Replies]

To: StormEye

Its invalid. You don’t distinguish between public and private goods. No one has a right or entitlement to the latter.


60 posted on 01/15/2020 1:20:30 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | 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