Piñera suspends the rise in the price of the subway and the Army decrees curfew for Santiago

The president of Chile recalls after an unprecedented wave of violence in the capital and the rest of the country. The Army has decreed curfew for the Chilean capital...

...The military that took control of Santiago de Chile this morning has failed to stop the violent protests in different areas of the city, which over time have spread to different regions of the country. Twenty-one hours after decreeing the state of emergency for the capital, which restricts citizens the freedom of transfer and assembly for 15 days...

Look. See how important this is to the elites? They need us to buy and burn oil. They can't stand it when we use public transportation. This is because banks are leveraged out too far on oil. They want to raise fares -- -NOT TO GET MONEY --- but to reduce ridership and get more people driving.


Link to story: https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/10/19/actualidad/1571506476_320721.amp.html?

Oil and debt

Why has Chile declared a state of emergency to enforce a fare hike?

In 2005, conventional [easy-to-get] oil peaked. Every day the world's massive oil-dependent, fixed-asset, infrastructure depends more on difficult oil, expensive oil.

This infrastructure: highways, refineries, pipelines, suburbs, shipping, etc., is resting on huge amounts of debt that was created with the idea that oil would always be cheap.

Now the end of cheap oil has created a cul-de-sac. Oil price is too low for producers, but too high for consumers. But the oil-dependent infrastructure, if not fed, will bleed money.

They need people to use cars more and public transport less. So they raise fares.

They are literally beating up school girls to save the banking system.

Elections in Canada and New Zealand raising interest in fare-free #publictransit/#publictransport

Ontario candidate calls for zero-fare public transit

 

https://farefreenz.blogspot.com/2019/09/christchurch-mayoral-candidates.html

48% percent of new [free] bus users say they use the car less

The free bus service started in September of 2018. Since then, there has been an increase in ridership, rising 57% during the week and 115% on weekends. In 2019, the figures that were available to Ubris were a 65% increase on weekdays and 125% on weekends from January through May. 

From February through May, which coincided with Carnival, the figures rose even higher: a 72% increase during the week and 144% on the weekends. 48% of new bus users have indicated they use their cars less. In other words, they chose the free bus over driving their cars. Project Manager, Claire-Marine Javary of VIGS, also pointed out that, “When compared to the total number of users surveyed, 24% make bus journeys they used to make by car.”

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/10/07/a-french-city-introduces-free-public-transportation/ 

"free public transportation" buzzing on Twitter

The lowest hanging fruit in combating climate crisis: Make public transportation free to use. Best bang for the buck.

— Mainul Mizan (@mainulmizan) October 12, 2019

All public transportation should be free. Anyone who disagrees is not serious about combating climate change. https://t.co/qkmTSfj1yV

— Eldon Katz (@eldon_katz) October 11, 2019

In the face of climate crisis and gross inequality, public transportation should be free for all

— French Reggie (@fromyonkers) October 13, 2019

Trump regrets oil wars

#DonaldTrump on the #MiddleEast#Iraq #Syria #Libya pic.twitter.com/yaIuhBemUH

— DOAM (@doamuslims) October 9, 2019

Does free public transportation lead to less walking? [No].

Some "planners" are saying that fare-free public transit will lead to less walking and cycling. Here is a study from VTPI that show that public transit increases physical activity. Some excerpts:

...
Since active transport (walking and cycling) and public transit are complements, transit travel tends to increase public fitness and health.
...
The 2004 American Community Survey found that consumers place a high value on urban amenities such as shorter commute time and neighborhood walkability: 60% of prospective homebuyers surveyed reported that they prefer a neighborhood that offered a shorter commute, sidewalks and amenities like local shops, restaurants, libraries, schools and public transport over a more automobile-dependent community
...
Described differently, high quality transit requires an integrated system that includes attractive stops and stations surrounded by compact and mixed development, good walking and bicycling conditions, reduced parking supply, and more social acceptance of non-auto travel;
...
Residents of transit-oriented developments tend to own about half as many vehicles, generate half as many vehicle trips, and rely on walking, cycling and public transit much more than in automobile-dependent communities (Arrington and Sloop 2009).
...
Similarly, Wedderburn (2013) found that in New Zealand urban areas, each additional daily transit trip by driving age (18+ years) residents is associated with 0.95 more walking trips and 1.21 kilometers (in addition to the walking trips to access transit), and reductions of two daily car driver trips and 45 vehicle-kms, approximately 5 kilometers of reduced vehicle travel for each additional transit passenger-km.
...
Inadequate physical activity contributes to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, osteoporosis and some cancers. Many experts consider increased walking and cycling for daily transport one of the most practical ways to increase public fitness and health (AJHP 2003). Most transit trips include walking or cycling links, so transit travel tends to increase physical activity (Devries, et al. 2018; Edwards 2008; Frank, et al. 2010; Litman 2010b). Public transit users average about three times as much walking as people who rely on automobile transport, nearly achieving the 22 daily minutes of moderate physical activity considered necessary for health (Besser and Dannenberg 2005; Weinstein and Schimek 2005; Wener and Evans 2007). Lachapelle, et al. (2011) found that transit commuters average 5 to 10 more daily minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, and walked more to local services

UK Green Party wants to scrap plans for new roads, use cash for free bus travel for all

The [UK] Green party wants to scrap the Conservatives’ £6.5bn plans for new roads and will instead use the cash to fund free bus travel for all.

https://farefreenz.blogspot.com/2019/10/uk-green-party-wants-to-scrap-plans-for.html

Cars do more than burn petrol, much more.

A lot of "thinkers" are down-playing the fare-free public transit campaign because they look at cars solely for what they directly add to emissions.

The car is much more than that. It is the cigarette that delivers the cancer of sprawl and growth.

The US led, and the developed world followed, into a commitment to many $Trillions in hard-asset car-dependent infrastructure. People spread and grew, taking over farmland and forests.

By hard-assets, we mean built of steel and cement. This is the autosprawl nightmare.

Car tires filling the oceans with plastic

CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENTThe biggest likely source of microplastics in California coastal waters? Our car tires


A new study finds that tire dust and fragments appear to be the largest source of microplastics polluting San Francisco Bay, and it is likely that the same is true for other coastal waters in California.
(David Madison / Getty Images)By ROSANNA XIASTAFF WRITER OCT. 2, 2019 8:15 AMBERKELEY —
Driving is not just an air pollution and climate change problem — turns out, it just might be the largest contributor of microplastics in California coastal waters.
That is one of many new findings, released Wednesday, from the most comprehensive study to date on microplastics in California. Rainfall washes more than 7 trillion pieces of microplastics, much of it tire particles left behind on streets, into San Francisco Bay each year — an amount 300 times greater than what comes from microfibers washing off polyester clothes, microbeads from beauty products and the many other plastics washing down our sinks and sewers.