Free Public Transit: Barbados stepping in the right direction

Friday, June 6, 2008

Barbados stepping in the right direction

THE CONGRESS of Public Transport Associations has given the thumbs up to Prime Minister David Thompson's proposal for thousands of school children and low-income workers to travel free on buses.
...He said the proposal would also help to make a significant impact on the country's fuel bill and reduce traffic congestion when motorists opt to leave their vehicle at home and ride on a more organised transportation system.... -- nationnews.com

Free is Cheaper

How is free transit cheaper? Don't you have to make up for lost fare revenue? The answer is that your city will save so much money in other areas, and quality of life will improve so much that you will get back much more than the lost fares. Some examples are listed below. If you want to see specific numbers, see our spreadsheet here.

Increased return on investment. Public transit involves large fixed costs. When fares are gone, there are more riders per vehicle, getting more value from the investment.
Reduced parking costs. With free transit, fewer people will park downtown. City parking authorities can cost $180 million a year, paid by fines, which are just a tax on customers and delivery services.

Reduced traffic congestion. Studies have shown that the time lost in traffic costs urban economies hundreds of millions of dollars.
Less money exported for gasoline. A medium sized city can export 1 million dollars a day in gasoline money for cars. Free buses will reduce this considerably.
Better quality of life, priceless. In Hasselt, Belgium, when fares were removed, people in hospital started receiving more visitors.