Fare collection infrastructure is shockingly expensive (it is municipal government IT, after all) and prolongs bus loading times, requiring more equipment/fuel/

Fare collection infrastructure is shockingly expensive (it is municipal government IT, after all) and prolongs bus loading times, requiring more equipment/fuel/labor to deliver the same service. Fare collection usually fails to recapture its own cost, or does so just barely. By some estimates, eliminating fare collection would actually consume less tax revenue, not more.