Well, free does mean that you don't get to pay to use. Where the money comes from is a different question, albeit the most important one. Perhaps it would make

Well, free does mean that you don't get to pay to use. Where the money comes from is a different question, albeit the most important one. Perhaps it would make sense to tackle overly dependence on cars by slapping a tax which is directly used to fund public transport. So the more cars you have registered, the more money goes into public transport so that it can compete better, without getting left behind.