Free Public Transit: The Case for Permanent Free Public Transit

Thursday, March 15, 2012

The Case for Permanent Free Public Transit | Halifax Media Co-op

The Case for Permanent Free Public Transit | Halifax Media Co-op: "Removing fares from public transit encourages more people to use it, and more people riding buses, ferries, and streetcars is undoubtedly a Good Thing. Transporting 40 people on a bus is much more efficient than transporting those people in private cars, meaning less traffic congestion, less air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and less public spending on road infrastructure and parking lots."

Ben Sichel will be on New957 Radio Sunday Morning at 10am to discuss free transit
http://www.news957.com/
Follow @bsichel
Here is the audio of the interview: http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/audio/free-buses-hrm/10256

Free is Cheaper

How is free transit cheaper? Don't you have to make up for lost fare revenue? The answer is that your city will save so much money in other areas, and quality of life will improve so much that you will get back much more than the lost fares. Some examples are listed below. If you want to see specific numbers, see our spreadsheet here.

Increased return on investment. Public transit involves large fixed costs. When fares are gone, there are more riders per vehicle, getting more value from the investment.
Reduced parking costs. With free transit, fewer people will park downtown. City parking authorities can cost $180 million a year, paid by fines, which are just a tax on customers and delivery services.

Reduced traffic congestion. Studies have shown that the time lost in traffic costs urban economies hundreds of millions of dollars.
Less money exported for gasoline. A medium sized city can export 1 million dollars a day in gasoline money for cars. Free buses will reduce this considerably.
Better quality of life, priceless. In Hasselt, Belgium, when fares were removed, people in hospital started receiving more visitors.