Sam Hersh: Kostenloser Nahverkehr ist nicht nur möglich, er ist auch beliebt
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/sam-hersh-free-transit
Sam Hersh: Kostenloser Nahverkehr ist nicht nur möglich, er ist auch beliebt
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/sam-hersh-free-transit
7 Kommentare
I’m of the opinion that free transit is both popular and possible-among those who use transit.
Free roads are also popular among those who drive.
However, I also think that people should be paying for both so that the value proposition of transit is more readily available.
I would much rather see transit fares be capped at affordable levels, and heavy subsidies/free transit available to those who need it, then completely making it free.
There is no such thing as free transit. Someone is going to pay for it. You can make an argument that it is a good idea to redistribute resources from some people to others but calling it ‚free‘ is a lie
Yes I think it is a worthy goal, but improving service should be first with the resources we are willing to give it. Improving service AND having it be free (at least community buses) would be great, but the electorate as a whole in most parts of the country leans towards car infrastructure unfortunately.
It would mean laying off a bunch of fare enforcement, booth staff, presto maintenance people, etc etc I imagine to make sense. They can’t all be transferred to “station managers” or whatever those people dodging customers at subway stations are. Which would be a tough ask.
Would there be good value in adding transit passes to property taxes or another municipal tax item? Basically, if youre living/paying tax in the municipality the transit serves, you get a pass paid through your taxes.
Visitors are then the only people made to purchase additional passes.
Free public transit is rather rare even in countries of Europe and East Asia where public transit options are far superior to the best in Canada.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_public_transport#List_of_towns_and_cities_with_area-wide_zero-fare_transport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_public_transport#List_of_towns_and_cities_with_area-wide_zero-fare_transport)
When he puts forth a plan on how transit can be both free and reliable I might take his aspirations seriously.
>This premise, however, presents a false choice — we can and we should have both. Our current approach makes clear that higher fares do not lead to a better, more reliable system, and the pandemic made it clear that solely relying on transit fares for revenue is not sustainable.
It’s not about whether it’s possible or popular, it’s about whether this is good policy. In major cities where public transit is the best or the only way for lots of people to get around, ticket revenue is a great way to help fund part of the service. The tickets need to be at a price that doesn’t dissuade people from taking public transit, but most people can and should be paying a few dollars. When all of the ticket revenue is removed from the system, it simultaneously increases demand for public transit and starves the system for operating funding.
In small cities like the ones the article mentioned, free public transit makes sense. There are very few people to begin with, trips are short and it costs a lot less to drive and park than it would in a big city like Toronto or Ottawa. Fares need to be extremely low for those short trips, and the cost of collecting the fares becomes almost as high as the revenue that they generate.
> Detractors argue that if we spend money on making our transit system free, then we would not have enough to increase reliability — something that is admittedly sorely needed in Ottawa, especially after Mayor Sutcliffe and our council approved the largest service cut in a decade in the last city budget.
What do these activists think will happen to those subsidies when there is no ticket revenue to supplement it?
> If ridership was up to pre-pandemic levels, free transit would cost the city about $200 million, according to OC Transpo’s own estimates. This might sound like a lot.
> However, when you consider other unnecessary expenses like the $258 million the city is projected to spend on road widening in the next couple of years, then the number does not seem that out of the ordinary.
If you don’t understand the difference between operating and capital expenses, you shouldn’t be writing newspaper articles about government spending.