discussion Should public transport be free?

[Harrier]

3 hours ago, qegqeg said:

Well it should be cheaper. I live in Australia and it costs me like $12 a day to take the train to work, which is only 20 minutes from my house 

Girl I would be fare dodging nonstop, what city is this 

[JustHoran]

Free would be nice, it should definitely be cheaper if not free.

[slimfem]

Yes, just like healthcare, education and a dozen other things should be.

[airplane]

Yeah. Make the london underground free. 

[BGKC]

Locally, yes. Paying a small fee to go across any state/country lines would make sense.  
Amtrak for example is stupid expensive. Like I’d personally rather take the train to get to NY to Chicago because I honestly hate everything about flying/the airport, but it cost more than a flight usually. And it’s slow as hell too. The US is such an embarrassment when it comes to passenger trains compared to most of Europe and Asia. 

[Pendulum]

In small cities or countries, sure. Luxembourg has free public transport and getting into the one tram they have for free (classical music was literally playing on the speakers too) was the best feeling ever. 

 

Public transport has to be affordable and accessible. Having free public transit in a metropolis like NY is a recipe for disaster. 

[Tropez]

1 hour ago, BGKC said:

Locally, yes. Paying a small fee to go across any state/country lines would make sense.  
Amtrak for example is stupid expensive. Like I’d personally rather take the train to get to NY to Chicago because I honestly hate everything about flying/the airport, but it cost more than a flight usually. And it’s slow as hell too. The US is such an embarrassment when it comes to passenger trains compared to most of Europe and Asia. 

Canada is awful also. The US gutted its train system for freight. Which the US has one of the best in the world. I also don’t think Americans outside of NY care for public transport. 

[pavi]

Yes, or at least a lot cheaper.

 

Nobody ever says roads and highways need to be profitable: they're free to use (as long as you own your own vehicle). Countries pump so much money in building and maintaining roads, but then they expect public transport to make profit. It's so weird imo. 

 

Making public transport cheaper and a better alternative than driving will be great for the environment, will give low income households better opportunities and it will repay itself partly because of economic activity growing

[Uncatena]

7 hours ago, Space Cowboy said:

No. That would be communism, right?

LMFAO

 

ot: yes, obviously. 

[Blue Jeans]

Well, it is never free and must be paid from subsidies and taxes. But yes. It would increase people’s mobility and encourage development. But also the US needs to make huge improvements in the public transport and then should make it affordable 

[katara]

7 hours ago, Stan.killah said:

No because then they would just force the bill onto tax payers. Nothing is free in this world. 

 

7 hours ago, Devin said:

[2]

Yeah let's just continue pouring our taxes to people like Elon and Bezos ( & corrupt politicans) then who will spend it on hookers, cocaine and buying & lobbying for conservative politicans so they can steal even more taxes and make everyone else even poorer 

 

Goodness forbid that we spend taxes on stuff like free public transportation that would help millions of struggling people and relieve the environment and climate 

[DamianSolo]

The infrastructure has to first be expanded, in the region in which I live, and that's going to cost money. Public transportation is a joke where I live. Thankfully it's nothing I've ever had to depend on, nor could I if I had to, but there are a number of people who would thrive if they had access to such transportation.

 

For as much as I would love for it to be "free," there's going to be a cost somewhere down the line—whether it's through taxes, or otherwise.

[katykater]

No, people value something based on the price they paid for.

 

It should be cheap enough to attract large amounts of people. Like how the Germans went swarming because of cheap train tickets.

 

If you understand German (humor): the 9 euro ticket for a month of riding buses, trams, U Bahn, S Bahn, regional trains (stopping in too much stations) nation wide:

 

 

Every country has a rich people's beach town and Sylt didn't know the Streisand effect when they complained about the endless amounts of poors that could be storming their town. The Internet memed that.

Edited August 27, 2023 by katykater

[John Slayne]

the short answer is yes

[glitch]

Already the braindead "b-b-b-but that would cause an increase in taxes" takes 

 

Yes it should. In the UK the government gets mad when public transport doesn't make a profit even though that's not what it's there for. It's not like defence spending results in any kind of profit, but we're happy to sink millions of pounds into that despite it not having any visible benefits for most of the general population.

[Stan.killah]

On 8/27/2023 at 2:38 AM, katara said:

 

Yeah let's just continue pouring our taxes to people like Elon and Bezos ( & corrupt politicans) then who will spend it on hookers, cocaine and buying & lobbying for conservative politicans so they can steal even more taxes and make everyone else even poorer 

 

Goodness forbid that we spend taxes on stuff like free public transportation that would help millions of struggling people and relieve the environment and climate 

If you haven't kept up with current events, we have a high record currently of people living paycheck to paycheck in all of US history (70%-80% of all Americans I believe), credit card debt has passed the 1 trillion mark recently for the first time, and homelessness is reaching peak levels.

 

The majority of people are at their breaking point financially with taxes and bills. Last thing they need is for their taxes to be raised even higher so that people that can't afford $1.50 for public transit can get free rides.