Alternet: Fare-Free Public Transit Could Be Headed to a City Near You

[benevolent dictator]

Fare-Free Public Transit Could Be Headed to a City Near You
http://alternet.org/environment/57802/
It's time to give people a free ride on public transit. And here's proof it works.

By some estimates, the government subsidy to each private vehicle owner is about $3,700, while a common cost for providing a single trip by transit is about $5.

Yet big or small, most transit systems are scraping by or on the brink of financial collapse, paradoxically because of their reliance on the farebox. Revenue for any system drops when ridership dips or when fares are increased. Yes, when fares are increased. This is so well proven it has a name: the Simpson-Curtain rule. Most often the dip in ridership is caused by a fare hike.

To understand this cycle better, let's imagine that you are in charge of a transit system. You feel pressure to increase service or to maintain service despite increasing costs. You need to raise more money. Politically and practically, for most systems, the easiest way is to raise fares. But soon after, ridership goes down. It drops 3.8 percent for every 10 percent increase in fares, researchers have found. Which means you either haven't gained much new revenue, or worse, you've started spiraling downward.

[nxylas]

1. Oh for politicians with vision

I can't imagine there would be many politicians here in South Carolina forward-thinking enough to ever allow such a radical solution.

[benevolent dictator]

2. Unfortunately,

I doubt there are many politicians anywhere in the US who would ever approve such a thing.

::sigh:: I've just returned back to Detroit after a year in Germany, where not only did I not need a car but I never even missed having one. From where I lived to the main train station or the inner city I never had to wait more than 20 minutes for a bus, and that was on Sundays. During the week it was usually only a 5-10 minute wait, and there were four different bus lines that went by. It was amazing. And then there was the excellent tram and train system.

I miss it already.

[nxylas]

3. I hear ya

Just returned from visiting my folks in the UK. Even though I was born and raised there, I've been living here long enough (4 years) to be pleasantly surprised by the sight of bus stops in the middle of the countryside.