Who is next? Worcester, MA, City Council studying #freepublictransit

District 4 Councilor Sarai Rivera co-sponsored the order, and said going fare-free would be the first step in bringing the WRTA into the modern age. For a city that is always talking about how it is moving forward, Worcester’s public transportation seems to be stuck, she said. She said it’s not just a poverty issue; fare-free bus transportation would mean more people would use the system.

“This is doable. We can do this here in the city,” Rivera said.

https://www.telegram.com/news/20200107/worcester-city-council-signals-support-for-fare-free-bus-service 

São Paulo, Brazil, people protest fare hikes

[from Google translate]

Another beginning of the year, another increase in the public transport fare of São Paulo (SP). From January 1, 2020, bus, subway and train tickets will increase from $ 4.30 to $ 4.40. Integration between modes will increase from R $ 7.48 to R $ 7.65. 

In response, the Free Pass Movement (MPL) São Paulo called a demonstration for January 7, in front of City Hall, at the Viaduto do Chá, at 17h. 

...“It is a very serious attack by the rulers against most of the population. A working population that depends on this public transport to travel, to study, to work, to look for a job ”, he points out.

https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2019/12/27/contra-aumento-da-tarifa-do-transporte-sp-tem-primeiro-ato-convocado-para-2020/ 

Are any elected officials calling for #freepublictransit? [Yes]

@ben_isitt

Here in the capital region, we are eliminating user-fee barriers to public transit ridership, as a form of climate action and social justice, starting with young people in the city of Victoria. - Ben Isitt in Times/Colonist  

* * * 

We are sure we don't have them all, but our list has grown to 26. More people are starting to realize that their town or city is exporting a lot of money for gasoline [petrol] while suffering the cost of support the inefficient auto and sprawl system.

https://fptpols.blogspot.com/p/in-office.html?

What to expect in 2020

1. Continued sagging of world economy

2. Acceleration of birth rate decline in developed areas

3. Intensified fighting for control over oil and gas 

Debt-service, high energy costs, and military spending will continue to be a burden on profits. As companies fail, unemployment will add to the downward pressure. In developed areas, birth rate decline will accelerate which will further depress demand for energy, especially oil.

As profits evaporate into energy cost and debt-service, the control of the last sources of high netenergy fuels will become more important and fighting will intensify.

More evidence that fares are for rationing, not revenue

As it stands right now, most of METRO’s operating funds don’t come from the fares. The transit agency gets most of its money from a one-cent sales tax, which caught the attention of Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack. 

Radack recently spoke before the METRO board on why the agency should consider free or reduced fares. He said that people are already paying for the transit service through the sales tax and a financial incentive for riding could get more people on board. 

“And so if we just keep going the way we’re going, we’re going to build more freeways, we’re going to continue to do other forms of transportation, but at the end, it makes no sense to have buses only partially full running around,” said Radack.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/in-depth/2020/01/06/355569/metro-is-gathering-input-on-whether-to-stop-collecting-fares/? 

Boston Globe supports free public transportation.

Boston Globe supports free public transportation.
https://farefreene.blogspot.com/2020/01/boston-globe-calls-for-freepublictransit.html

Another domino falls -- Intercity transit in Olympia, WA, goes fare-free

kuow.org

As of the New Year, no bus fare is needed to ride the Olympia area's Intercity Transit. On Wednesday, the transit agency became the largest in the Pacific Northwest to eliminate fare collection, leapfrogging Corvallis and Missoula which did so earlier.

Collapse of the #autosprawl system

Households in the US owe over $13 trillion in debt. World-wide official debt is at $255 trillion.

Let's imagine that debt were to be eliminated magically by a few mistaken keystrokes. What would happen. Well a lot of rich and middle-class people would lose money. On the other hand, consumers would suddenly have much more to spend. Governments, with no more debt-service could provide much more social service.

But there is another debt that is not so easily addressed. That is the money sunk into autosprawl. The world has many $trillions invested in cars, highways, roads, suburbs, refineries, tankers, military, and much more, to support the system of autos and sprawl. These are hard assets, which depend on oil, and are not easily replaced. This investment was never sustainable, and now it is collapsing.

People on Twitter reply to the anti-publictransit trolls

Paid trolls have been tweeting articles that pretend to be neutral, but actually repeat lies about free public transportation. People on Twitter are aware and answering back.

Nope, they don't become homeless shelters. Not a "major city" but Chapel Hill-Carrboro NC has had free public transit for many years. It really is just a huge benefit.

— Alan Britt (@alanlbritt) January 1, 2020

The oil paradox, why fight for something you can't sell?

Any oil price now is either too high for consumers or too low for producers. Producers are trying to get other producers to cut back, but no one is willing to sacrifice. But then, you may ask, why the ferocious oil wars and desperate drilling?

When oil was easy-to-drill, there were many years of low price. This affected the whole world economy. Due to expected future growth, debt was incurred to grab future profits in the present. In 2005, world easy-oil production peaked. Every day since then, it has cost more joules to get a joule of oil.

However, paradoxically, due to the profit system, the end of cheap oil, and increased debt-service, there are no more profits. But oil is still the blood of the economy and controlling it means economic power.

Hence, there is a desperate fight over something that cannot be sold.