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People will pay, just indirectly. Pricing is a great signal for economic optimisation but if there is really nothing to be optimised as these services essentia
by Guthur 5y ago
People will pay, just indirectly.
Pricing is a great signal for economic optimisation but if there is really nothing to be optimised as these services essentially run as monopolies then maybe this approach on balance comes out better for all.
- tjansen 5y ago"People will pay, just indirectly." Exactly, but indirect payment doesn't add friction. It depends on what you want to achieve, but limitless use of public transport isn't all good. For example, in many cities public transport operates at full capacity, at least in some hours. If free unlimited use results in even more passengers, it depends on where these additional passengers are coming from. If most of them were previously driving a car, you are reducing the number of cars. But if most didn't travel at all before, you may actually increase the number of cars, because some people won't like the crowds and switch to using cars.
- Scoundreller 5y agoRight. There might be saturation at peak times, but the rest of the time; just make the system free. It might even improve the peak time situations, reducing the need for more expensive investments to improve them.