4 ms·

It's nice sentiment, but studies have found that making transit free just tends to cause existing transit users to ride transit more frequently for shorter dist

• gardenhedge 4y ago
  What time period did they do the studies on? Suppose I drive a car because it has some advantages over paid public transit. Now when they make public transit free, I still have my car. I'm not likely to switch within a short time period. When it comes to moving home, getting a new job or a new car then I may become a new user of transit.
  • warning26 4y ago
    You raise a valid point; this lack of long term effects is also my problem with most basic income studies. That said, if you're making a decision to sell your car and move to a place near a transit stop, I'd argue that the $2.50 or whatever a train/bus ticket costs isn't going to be a primary factor in your decision. Consider Japan; everyone uses transit there, and train tickets are generally quite expensive. But, people pay for it because: 1) Almost all development is high density near transit stops 2) The trains are fast and frequent If we want people to use transit, low fares are a definite nice to have, but the real key is we need to stop with horrible car-centric zoning policies and low-density construction.
• runnerup 4y ago
  …okay? That seems fine?
• forgotmypw17 4y ago
  It makes transit more accessible to people without money. And it saves a good chunk of money on fare collection, processing, and enforcement. Thankfully, since the beginning of the pandemic, most mass transit in the U.S. is de-facto payment-optional.
• getcrunk 4y ago
  Studies paid for by who? The car lobby