Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Free is cheaper

We started calculating the costs that could be reduced for a city of 1 million in the US if free public transit were adopted. After 3 categories, it is apparent that only minor reductions would amply pay for the "lost" revenues. We will continue working on the spread sheet, and we may not even have to include the costs of climate change.
The first column is the expense that could possibly be reduced by having free transit.
The second column is the fixed cost from sources such as AAA adjusted for a city of 1 million.
The 3rd column, percentage of savings, is the one to change to see how much is needed to make the bottom line zero or greater. After only 3 categories, and a modest estimate of 5 or 6% savings with free transit, we can easily recover the lost fare revenue.