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The Case For “Free” Public Transportation
Public transit across America is in crisis. The New York subway may have to cut service to 40% of pre-pandemic levels. The Washington Metro is threatening to remove late night service…again…as ridership hovers around 80% of pre-pandemic levels.
It doesn’t have to be like this. Public transportation is not a luxury for individuals and it is not a luxury for cities. Yet it is often treated as such, especially in car-loving America. Before the pandemic, American public transit systems were both expensive and insufficient except in a very small number of cities.
Why Public Transit Should Not Be Funded By Fares
The traditional means of funding public transit is, of course, fares paid by passengers. This has been the case since the invention of the Omnibus in 1826. (Ferries are, of course, older). Early public transit was the province of a middle class who couldn’t quite afford to hire a private carriage.
Then omnibuses became streetcars. Rails allowed the same number of horses to transport more passengers, prices dropped, and hello industrial revolution.
In the 1950s, though, the car culture killed the streetcar in most cities, and since then public transit has been an afterthought.