Nothing you said was factually wrong, but the last sentence makes it sound like "bored bums" were the reason it was abandoned. Here's the relevant part from the

Nothing you said was factually wrong, but the last sentence makes it sound like "bored bums" were the reason it was abandoned. Here's the relevant part from the article you linked: > And not every trip seems to have been truly necessary for the passengers. "On rainy days the kids would take the bus out of boredom" says Templin's mayor Detlef Tabbert (Die Linke ["The Left" political party]) to manager-magazin.de. Groups of men with a crate of beer were also not uncommon. "If something is for free, it will be used - whether it makes sense or not", says [marketing responsible of the local transit provider][marketing responsible of the local transit provider] Pohlan In the end they went back to paid tickets, but charged 44EUR for an annual ticket that can even be transferred between people as needed. That still leaves them subsidizing public transit, but that's a political decision based on what the alternatives would be: pollution, road infrastructure (another form of subsidy), better quality of life, ... A decision that, as you might be able to tell, I personally happen to strongly agree with. Edit: forgot to paste the translated paragraph :P