Tuesday, July 10, 2007

17 Reasons For Free Public Transit The following is excerpted from The Tyee.   The article also comments on the obvious relationship between fares are ridership.  Raising fares reduces ridership... Duh!   Here in NYC, major capital projects are underway to address under capacity problems.  They will take years.   A fare increase is also in the works.  Maybe the fare increase will hold ridership in check until the new capacity can come on line. Fare-free transit brings many benefits, some of which include: a barrier-free transportation option to every member of the community (no more worries about exact change, expiring transfers, or embarrassment about how to pay) eliminating a "toll" from a mode of transportation that we as a society want to be used (transit is often the only way of getting around that charges a toll) reducing the inequity between the subsidies given to private motorized vehicle users and public transport users reducing, and in some cases eliminating, the need for private motorized vehicle parking reducing greenhouse gas emissions, other air pollutants, noise pollution (especially with electric trolleys), and run-off of toxic chemicals into fresh water supplies and ocean environments reducing overall consumption of oil and gasoline eliminating the perceived need to spend billions on roads and highways (now up to $7 billion for the proposed Gateway Project in Vancouver) eliminating the perceived need to spend billions on bigger car-carrying ferries ($2.5 billion for BC Ferries' new super-sized boats and ramps) contributing significantly to the local economy by keeping our money in our communities reducing litter (in Vancouver, the newer transfers/receipts have overtaken fast food packaging for most common garbage found on our streets) saving trees by eliminating the need to print transfers and tickets allowing all bus doors to be used to load passengers, making service faster and more efficient allowing operators (drivers) to focus on driving safely giving operators more time to answer questions providing operators a safer work environment since fare disputes are eliminated eliminating fare evasion and the criminalization of transit-using citizens fostering more public pride in shared, community resources 8:02:32 AM  permalink  comment []

© Copyright 2007 Joe Biegelsen. Last update: 8/7/2007; 10:55:13 PM.