Whatever the merits of the argument, that's obviously not it. A bus full of people commuting to jobs is getting more use than a bus a quarter full of rank home

Whatever the merits of the argument, that's obviously not it. A bus full of people commuting to jobs is getting more use than a bus a quarter full of rank homeless men with lice dropping off of them and otherwise empty because no one wants to be near them. I would argue, though, that a bigger problem is that prices don't wholly fix even that problem. Evidence: a casual ride on the non-free San Francisco area BART, which is full of homeless people who ride it all non-peak hours because it's more comfortable than sitting on the sidewalk. When I've been in Asian or European cities, that's simply not an issue.