Comment 108539

By AnjoMan (registered) | Posted January 29, 2015 at 12:00:04

Heres an interesting article from slate that gives a counterpoint:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arch...

From the article:

Free subway rides entice people who would otherwise walk, not people who would otherwise drive.

and

The lure of "free," the report implied, attracted the "wrong" crowd—the "right" crowd, of course, being wealthier people with cars, who aren't very sensitive to price changes.

I think free transit sounds good for those who have trouble affording the fares, but it doesn't seem to accomplish the true goal that transit should aspire to, which is to be a competitive option that makes sense for most people.

I would also say that without doing the actual work of improving transit, its not that great to offer it free for the benefit of those who can't afford it. "here, this thing is really shitty and doesn't help you, but you can have it for free" is not that inspiring. Build a really great transit system and offer them that, and you'll have made a much bigger impact.

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