Last year, Americans took 10.4 billion trips on public transit, or 35 million every weekday.

Houston Chronicle : ..."Over the past two decades, public transportation ridership has grown by 34 percent. Last year, Americans took 10.4 billion trips on public transit, or 35 million every weekday.

Those who use public transit don't miss driving. Typically citing convenience and cost, six in 10 riders prefer public transit to other modes of transport.

Americans are giving up their car keys because buses and trains fit seamlessly with the ride-sharing, car-sharing, and bike-sharing services that have revolutionized how we get around.

Consider a survey taken last year of commuters in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Researchers surveyed 4,500 people about their use of public transit, car-shares, bike-shares, and rideshares. They then identified a subset that regularly uses several of these modes of transportation. Nearly six in ten of these "super-sharers" reported that more often than not, they travel on a bus or a train.

These variations of ways to get around -- public transit among them -- are allowing more households to go car-free, or at least car-lite."

Mayors love #freetransit #freepublictransport .... until they get that phone call

Many mayors and mayoral candidates have called for fare-free public transit in their cities... a few examples:

• New York City
• Houston
• Dayton
• Durham
• San Fransisco
• Auckland [candidate]
• Hartford [candidate]
• Paris
• Seoul
• Mexico City
• Chennai
• Tallinn
• many more

Some have had success, and some have been able to implement based on pollution rates.

But in many cases they suddenly go quiet. Mayor Bloomberg was notable example. He said on radio that "of course" fare-free is the way to go. Then he went silent, and has been silent on the topic ever since. 

Free transit is an obvious solution to the headaches and pain of the auto and sprawl, but it threatens to expose massive autosprawl subsidies. When cars no longer have critical mass, people will no longer tolerate their subsidy. Politicians are told by their masters that free transit is a career ender.

Automobile debt bubble still expanding #autosprawl #meltdown

Bloomberg: "It’s all happening in the market for subprime auto bonds, where loans to American consumers with some of the patchiest credit histories are packaged into securities to be sold to big investors. A decade after risky mortgage lending toppled the U.S. financial system, the securities have rarely been so popular. But the collateral behind the bonds is getting less safe: car-owners are increasingly falling behind on bigger loans with longer repayment terms made against depreciating assets."

US policy for: 1-transport 2-economy 3-foreign affairs 4-climate 5-health

#Parisagreement temperature limit already passed

Arctic News: 2017 was hottest year on record: "When determining which year was the hottest year, care should be taken to avoid bias due to temporary conditions such as the El Niño that was present in 2016 and the La Niña we're now experiencing now. Above image uses NASA land+ocean January 2012-December 2017 anomalies from 1951-1980, adjusted by 0.59°C to cater for the rise from preindustrial to 1951-1980, to calculate a linear trend that goes some way to smooth out variability due to El Niño/La Niña events. The trend shows that 2017 was significantly warmer than 2016.

The trend also shows that 1.5°C above preindustrial was crossed back in 2016. This 1.5°C (or 2.7°F) was set at the Paris Agreement as a guardrail that was not to be crossed. The trend further shows that we've meanwhile crossed 1.6°C above preindustrial and we look set to cross the 2°C guardrail within years."

Seoul mayor pushes back on critics and reiterates support for #freepublictransport to fight pollution

The Straits Times: "While acknowledging the fierce debate sparked by the city's decision to provide free public transport on three days when the air was very bad two weeks ago, the mayor insisted there is a need to "take as many measures as possible" to ease air pollution."

Oil trolls terrified of #freepublictransport #freetransit

Cities are turning to fare-free public transit to fight pollution. Capitalists are panicked. What if it catches on? In Paris they managed to stop it. But in Korea, they are having trouble. They dug out this old canard about free buses reducing walking.

Can Free Public Transit Fix South Korea's Smog Problem? - The Atlantic: "The lure of “free,” the report implied, attracted the “wrong” crowd—the “right” crowd, of course, being wealthier people with cars, who aren’t very sensitive to price changes … Free subway rides entice people who would otherwise walk, not people who would otherwise drive."

Studies consistently show that this is false. That public transit users actually walk more.

Former RIPTA board member calls for #freetransit for Rhode Island

Fare-Free New England: "There would be no need to print, market, and distribute transfers and passes. It would speed up trips by speeding up boarding, thus both using buses and drivers more efficiently, and attracting more riders. It can truly put Rhode Island on the map and get the attention of potential progressive employers attracted by the idea of the one statewide free transit system."

Study calls sprawl called wasteful

New Climate Economy: "High levels of sprawl create economic inefficiency and dependence on motor vehicles, leading to higher carbon emissions."

Hopkins mayoral candidate says light rail would bring 'trash from Minneapolis'

KMSP : ""All the Chicago and Detroit riff raff who have moved into 'Welfare-apolis', they are going to get on that train and you know where they are going to end up - at The Depot with yours and yours and yours' granddaughters and grandsons," Ivers said during the forum."

Reasons for #publictransit. Fight racism.