Free Public Transit: Physics wins over economics

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Physics wins over economics

If you want to understand the world, go back to school and refresh your physics. The age of information is the age of disinformation and there is a lot of confusing propaganda out there. Physics, though, doesn't lie. It is not religion. It is based on evidence.

Here are some things we know about how our home, the biosphere, works.

Animal life generates heat.
Complex animal life that uses million-year-old deposits of carbon generates lots of heat.
Certain gases in the atmosphere slow the release of heat from the biosphere.
Energy comes in every day from the sun.
Life depends on temperatures being in certain narrow range.

Wouldn't it be wise to pay attention to the balance?

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.