They found the same with library fines. The amounts weren’t deterring people from not returning their books. People generally return books. The issue was that those who were hit with fines either paid them off or couldn’t. And those who couldn’t, usually needed the books more than anyone. The same can be said with public transit.
If we really want to be a functioning economy where people can afford to both live and work, giving people a reliable, affordable means of transportation is one of the first steps.
Translink spends more maintaining fare gates and the compass card system every year than the entirety of fare evasion per year. But the BC Liberals forced the system on Translink so we are stuck with it now.
iirc NYC was spending more on enforcement of fares than the amount they were gaining by enforcing fares.
It just makes sense in every way to open the doors to all
They found the same with library fines. The amounts weren’t deterring people from not returning their books. People generally return books. The issue was that those who were hit with fines either paid them off or couldn’t. And those who couldn’t, usually needed the books more than anyone. The same can be said with public transit.
If we really want to be a functioning economy where people can afford to both live and work, giving people a reliable, affordable means of transportation is one of the first steps.
I really liked the busses in Seattle. They ran on a grid, came every few minutes, and were free
Based on the experience in my city, predictable and reliable service would go a long way toward more people using the bus.
As would routing/scheduling that gets people where they want to go without it taking 3x the time a car trip would take.
Translink spends more maintaining fare gates and the compass card system every year than the entirety of fare evasion per year. But the BC Liberals forced the system on Translink so we are stuck with it now.