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Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids

citylab.com

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Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids

#101

Post by Baeocystin »

masonic wrote: post #97
passivepinetree wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It stands for One Regional Card for All and it ties into an area wildlife. Orcas are commonly seen in local Native American art, mythology, etc. and are generally well-regarded. Local news often runs stories about certain whales in area pods. It’s not as weird as you’d think if you don’t live here.

are generally well-regarded I didn't say they are evil , just that they are ruthless predators. They're a natural element of their ecosystem, playing a longstanding role in it. But I still feel for the humpback calves.

Krillist.

Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids

#102

Post by stevekemp »

zhoujianfu wrote: post #2

Why 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.)

Estonia did just that:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/estonia-is-making-pub...

Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids

#103

Post by throwaway123mmm »

stevekemp wrote: post #102
zhoujianfu wrote: post #2

Why 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.)

Estonia did just that: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/estonia-is-making-pub...

And luxembourg

Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids

#104

Post by userbinator »

masonic wrote: post #84
codereflection wrote: post #46

Seattle does this for kids in middle school and high school. Each kid gets an Orca card for free (transit card that we use in the Seattle area). Lots of kids use them, even the kids who travel ~10 miles to get to their school. I know it's saved me a lot of money in gas and bus fare over the years with my kids getting this benefit. The only down side is that the cards are only good for during the school year.

Odd that they name a card for kids after a vicious predator.

It wouldn't be the first time a transit card is named with a theme "sea creatures that start with O":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyster_card

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card

Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids

#105

Post by ACow_Adonis »

wyattpeak wrote: post #90
r32a_ wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Melbourne, Australia, Trams are free for everyone within the CBD district

I think it's worth specifying that Melbourne's CBD is pretty small, and there aren't a lot of reasons why you'd need to travel within it where you haven't already gotten in by public transport (for which you have to pay, and travelling within the city afterwards wouldn't cost extra even if it weren't free - our pricing scheme is notoriously complicated). I live in the CBD, and the only time it ever actually saves me…

The trams are managed by a contracted private company, but pricing and public transport policy is set by the government, which is your first of several factual errors.

There are multiple reasons you'd need to travel within the CBD where you haven't already gotten in by public transport:

It opens up multiple locations in the entire CBD and surrounds to a single day trip without shuttling cars between overly expensive and time consuming parking.

The office can go out together for birthdays, christmas parties, etc without worrying about people's travel means and budgets.

Need to get down to the other end of the CBD for a business meeting: tram. Need to meet someone for coffee? Tram.

Tourists love it when they're staying central and it gives a good impression of our city. Some don't even buy tickets any more when coming for a convention or show.

I can go out and meet my friends/wife for lunch at various parts of the city, get down to the mall to do some shopping, and get back up to work all in the same lunch break now. Not everyone just does single destination trips in and out the city without doing anything else.

It allows one to move around the city and venues with less attention to the weather.

Not having to tap on or off increases boarding/alighting times for a given amount of throughput and in quiet times. (irrespective of whether you've paid to commute in or not)

Many of us from the surrounding suburbs now walk into the city and back out again, making a day of it in the city: this brings life and vibrancy to ALL the surrounding areas and increases walk-ability and foot-traffic, not just in the CBD. There's a whole ring of neighbourhoods on the periphery of the free-tram zone where walking now substitutes for hoping onto a tram 1-4 stops out from the CBD because you know you can make a free transport day of it.

---

The downside is of course more congestion on trams in the city as more people are using it to move around a few kms of space. And lower city-based tram revenue, but its also partly responsible for added life and vibrancy in the CBD.

The over-crowding is a definite downside when you're only commuting in/out/through the CBD, since you still pay and now often share the trams with large numbers of people going 3 or 4 stops, but we can hardly pretend there are no benefits.

Source: live just outside the CBD.

Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids

#106

Post by kathe-rine »

moorhosj wrote: post #92
dorfsmay wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your numbers are from the city of Paris. Most people riding in the metro during working rush hours are not from the city of Paris, but from the suburb. The suburb population in 1921 was 4.8 M in 1921 and 12.2 M in 2010. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Paris#Historic...

The RER was created in the 60s for this purpose and continually expanded since, no?

The RER brings riders from the suburbs into the city, but doesn't add to the infrastructure for transporting them once they're in Paris.

Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids

#107

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

mcny wrote: post #65
DamnYuppie wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does that differ from state registrations and fuel taxes?

> How does that differ from state registrations and fuel taxes? The taxes are too low. > The report documents that the amount that road users pay through gas taxes now accounts for less than half of what’s spent to maintain and expand the road system. The resulting shortfall is made up from other sources of tax revenue at the state and local levels, generated by drivers and non-drivers alike. This subsidizing of car…

Trucks are the ones damaging the roads. They could pay their fair share and you can enjoy increased prices on all the goods you use delivered by their service.

Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids

#108

Post by masonic »

samatman wrote: post #96
masonic wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

makes 2 billion a year on public transportation No, they make money on real estate to offset their losses on transit.

The value of that land is its adjacency to public transportation, I don’t see this statement as the slam-dunk you seem to think it is. When Google ‘loses money’ on search to make it up with ads, everyone thinks this is very clever. What Hong Kong is doing is no different.

  The value of that land is its adjacency to public transportation
Source?

In SV, land value is generally orthogonal to nearness to public transportation (because of demographics if nothing else). And along transit lines, the only uptick is near to stations. (If you live next to rail between stations, it's a disadvantage because of noise and added travel in accessing neighborhoods on the other side of the tracks, since you are limited to established crossings.

Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids

#109

Post by smokey_the_bear »

abalone wrote: post #16

Little tip for anyone living in SF (fair percentage of this website): All minors can ride muni free if their family is at or below the Bay Area medium income, which is $115K for a family of four.[1] [1] https://www.sfmta.com/fares/free-muni-youth

I was 17 for my first internship in sf in 2000. A monthly youth muni pass was $8. Looks like it’s 39 now.

Re: Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids

#110

Post by Cyph0n »

k_sh wrote: post #86
zanny wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is absolutely no "shortcut" for cities to skimp on having sufficient transit infrastructure to get people where they need to go. If you underbuild, people drive cars. If you overcharge, people drive cars. If you restrict car traffic, people simply don't move or work in your city and your economy dies. One way to balance between free ride abuse and people not using the trains because they have a car is to give r…

> most of the US government is designed to self-sabotage things like publicly run transit anyway What level of US government is sabotaging transit? The federal government doles out at least $2.3B every year for transit projects[0], meanwhile state and local governments throughout the US are approving tax increases for more transit. [0]: https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grant-programs/capital-i...

$2.3b sounds like peanut spending given the scale of the US and the current state of transit in the country.
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