Free Public Transit: Istanbul - 3 days of free transit when school starts

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Istanbul - 3 days of free transit when school starts

Turkish Daily News - Saturday, September 6, 2008 - IŞIL EĞRİKAVUK - The new school term means not only an end to the summer break but also an end to Istanbul's relatively open streets and highways. To help traffic run smoother, the Istanbul municipality is launching a three-day emergency plan, including free public transport on buses, ferries and metros during peak times.
With schools starting this week and 3 million students on their way back to the classroom, Istanbul's residents will wake up to a traffic nightmare Monday morning.
To help prevent a potential crisis, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, or IBB, is offering free transport to commuters for the first three days of the week.

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.