Fare-Free Transit

[Anondson]

Tallinn’s experiment of tree transit has not helped increase ridership.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90968891/es ... ic-went-up

Ridership has decreased and car ownership grew over the decade policy. Estonia’s growing prosperity plays a part.

Estonia mobility advisor says of the decade of free fares: “Any extra money should be put toward transit service, and not zero fares,” she replied. “Transit’s price is not a barrier for most people. It’s service quality and speed of the trip.”

[DanPatchToget]

Article about the results of Luxembourg's fare-free transit: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ic-transit

I think this part sums it up well:
"Given these criticisms — that free transit has yet to succeed either as a means of reducing traffic or easing inequality — it might seem that the Luxembourg’s policy is not one other places should consider emulating. But that’s not necessarily the case. What does seem clear is that any city or region considering complete public transit subsidies should be upfront about what such policies can and can’t deliver. Merely eliminating tickets won’t work as a stand-alone policy for greater sustainability and social equity; it needs to be joined by other efforts, such as more stringent restrictions on car use or more generous housing benefits that allow more people who work in the area to live nearby. And those kinds of changes may be politically harder to implement and more costly to sustain."

[thespeedmccool]

Not that I'm a supporter of free-fare transit, but I think it's worth noting that most American arguments in favor of free-fare transit are usually predicated on it being an issue of social justice, not necessarily reducing traffic or mode shifting transportation, though those are also good reasons; I just don't think they're the primary focus of most pro-free-fare arguments. And these articles do address that, but it seems these experiments' success or failure was measured more by their transportation impacts than equity impacts.

The other thing I'll note is that the impacts of free-fare transit are probably wildly different in Europe where transit is more the norm than in the United States where transit is unfortunately seen as transportation for 50% of the poor. Of course free-fare transit didn't expand ridership much or ease social inequities: most people who want to take transit already are in Europe and saving $3 was never going to entice holdouts to switch over.

Just questioning the external validity of those case studies. I don't think they represent a compelling anti-free-fare argument for an American audience.

[COLSLAW5]

If equity is the reasoning then we should just expand the reduced fare program. I feel like handing out free bus passes to everyone in the 7 county area under a certain household income would be a good option as well before going all fare free

[Trademark]

If equity is the reasoning then we should just expand the reduced fare program. I feel like handing out free bus passes to everyone in the 7 county area under a certain household income would be a good option as well before going all fare free

I want to see what the operations benefits would be of not requiring fares in this free fare pilot. How much faster can we run these routes without having to worry about people paying? Combine that with maintenance of the fare boxes. See where we end up.

Also considering that retention is a very difficult thing for Metro Transit. I wonder how many drivers you'll have stick around if they don't have to argue with passengers about a courtesy ride.

And while it may not turn around everyone's ridership happens anecdotally I know that I've used transit more especially for short trips where I'd usually bike since I got my college pass.

That being said, I'd rather pursue fare capping, and increased distribution of TAP cards. They should be given to people automatically when they qualify for a government program that qualifies them for TAP, and I would consider making that free.

But if the cost savings for faster routes, and farebox maintenance end up being close to covering the cost of free fare it's something that's worth considering.