Sounds like a good idea. Transport for London already does this.
In France, Lille did make it free for all. This is probably helpful to reduce car needs.
as noted below, it's Dunkirk
Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids
71–80 of 236 posts
Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids
#72This is a bad idea: The ticket price will raise for everyone else or the taxes, remember "there is no free rides"
Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids
#73In Prague (Czech Republic), public transport is completely free for people under 11 and above 70 :)
Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids
#74Why not make it just free for everybody? Public transportation typically has profit margins of -50% to -90% anyway... just take it to -100% and get a huge boost in ridership! (And probably save some expenses relating to collecting payment/enforcement.)
One of the major issues around offering free public transportation is funding. Public purses are pretty strained everywhere and additional taxes are unlikely to be accepted. Physically, there's also a problem in that systems are simply not geared for the expected increase in ridership which in itself is sufficiently large enough to cause problems but not meaningful enough to cause a significant dent in car use. I bel…
Is it the public purse?
Or is it unions? Or maybe something down the chain?
The TTC/Subway in Toronto has 'change collectors' - people at every station who do change, they earn over $100K if they work a lot of overtime.
There are effectively no automatic change booths at the stations, and no automated way to just 'buy a token and get on'.
Can you imagine why it's so inefficient?
Why they can't just get machines for that?
My cousin is senior at a contracting agency that's building out the new stations - everyone from top to bottom is charging huge for government work.
CGI, a Canadian consulting firm billed the US Gov. more than a $ 1 Billion for healthcare.gov - something that Google had to 'come in and fix'.
Governments are much bigger and more powerful than ever before, individual litigation is on the rise, 'special rights and concerns' are at the forefront, and there are a million legal tangles to any major project.
Many of these things, on their own are 'good things', but on the whole, it really creates a tangle.
The reason very little gets done is that we are caught up in our own efficient bureaucracies, public and private.
Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids
#75This is a bad idea: The ticket price will raise for everyone else or the taxes, remember "there is no free rides"
Yeah, God forbid anybody pays an extra Euro per ride to provide kids with some freedom of travel in their city.
Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids
#76In Nashville, public transit is free for all public high school students and most middle school students. The school system reimburses the transit authority for those rides.
It allows kids to participate in more after-school activities (when school busses don't run). But yeah, they also go to the mall on the weekend.
Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not aim for 0% profit, and keep public transit self sustaining? Everything has a cost, and making something (virtually) cost 0 only transfers the cost elsewhere
0 percent means you cant invest in transports anymore? Or do you include investment before the profit calculation?
"0 percent" meaning break-even -- fares and ads cover all (variable, at least) costs.
No transit agency in the USA accomplishes that, to my knowledge.
Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of the major issues around offering free public transportation is funding. Public purses are pretty strained everywhere and additional taxes are unlikely to be accepted. Physically, there's also a problem in that systems are simply not geared for the expected increase in ridership which in itself is sufficiently large enough to cause problems but not meaningful enough to cause a significant dent in car use. I bel…
Is it the public purse? Or is it unions? Or maybe something down the chain? The TTC/Subway in Toronto has 'change collectors' - people at every station who do change, they earn over $100K if they work a lot of overtime. There are effectively no automatic change booths at the stations, and no automated way to just 'buy a token and get on'. Can you imagine why it's so inefficient? Why they can't just get machines for t…
Your comment reminds me of a very recent hilarity in Austin: the city has set aside $100k to put up a 10 foot fence to prevent crime in a popular shady alleyway: https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2019/01/city-hopes-10-...
It has all the hallmarks of the things you bring up in your comment. Contractor was going to build it, but fire department demanded a special lock in case of emergency, screwdriver for a nail problem, etc.
Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Making things free can increase demand beyond what’s reasonable (for example, there was recently someone in the press explaining how, thanks to moviepass, he would enter a cinema just to go to the restroom). Maybe old people take trains just because they can, taking capacity from paying customers that really need the train to get to work or whatever.
I've seen that. In my small town, taking the bus is free for senior citizens. So they sit there all day and socialise because they simply have nothing better to do.
There is an entire community of homeless who ride the all-night VTA buses across Silicon Valley.
VTA likes this because it artificially inflates their census.
Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it the public purse? Or is it unions? Or maybe something down the chain? The TTC/Subway in Toronto has 'change collectors' - people at every station who do change, they earn over $100K if they work a lot of overtime. There are effectively no automatic change booths at the stations, and no automated way to just 'buy a token and get on'. Can you imagine why it's so inefficient? Why they can't just get machines for t…
Your comment reminds me of a very recent hilarity in Austin: the city has set aside $100k to put up a 10 foot fence to prevent crime in a popular shady alleyway: https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2019/01/city-hopes-10-... It has all the hallmarks of the things you bring up in your comment. Contractor was going to build it, but fire department demanded a special lock in case of emergency, screwdriver for a nail pr…
How can you run a fire department and think you need or even have any use for a special key for every fence in the city, when you already have master bolt cutters.