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First, free != "free". You pay for it with either fees or taxes. Is the concept of a public benefit collecting fees for its own operations that strange to you?

First, free != "free". You pay for it with either fees or taxes. Is the concept of a public benefit collecting fees for its own operations that strange to you? And of course not everyone is better off the more people use it; regular business commuters will be turned off by "problem riders" (See above comments for details. Having a nominal barrier to entry reduces the percentage of problem riders. One of the main reasons people elect not to use public transit is personal safety and comfort. ( https://transitcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TC_WhosOnBoard_Final_digital-1-1.pdf https://transitcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TC_Whos... )

Pfhreak 7y ago
> Is the concept of a public benefit collecting fees for its own operations that strange to you? Yes. This seems to be the thing that kills public services. If you are going to have everyone spend a lot on the initial cost, it seems wild to me that people don't want to spend a little more to make sure their investments are well maintained. Would you buy a car and then not maintain it? That's just asking for things to get broken down sooner. Public transit cannot just raise prices, as higher prices reduces ridership. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons public housing in the states has such a different reputation than public housing in the rest of the world - housing is expected to make enough money to maintain itself while also providing housing for the poorest. (Also, maintaining giant buildings is much more expensive than, say, maintaining a bunch of 4 story apartments.)