Gregory's ServerNot only should municipal transit be zero fare, using it should provide tax credits
 20 comments
@jenniferplusplus I would like to subscribe to your newsletter, ma'am.  This is a genuine, serious proposal. Cars and car infrastructure are so enormously expensive and destructive. Paying people to use public transit instead would be a net positive, and it's not even close.  @jenniferplusplus they did that in Houston when they built the light rail initially, sort of. They gave the hospitals in the medical center free passes to give their staff so they could car pool to the southern most point of the rail and ride it in to town. Unsure how effective it was or if it's still in practice. Personally yeah would rather have it open for all but you know, puritanical anti-homeless rhetoric. @jenniferplusplus The feds subsidize metro transit passes for employees in DC, which is a good start.  @jenniferplusplus The majority of voters choose based on their feelings which are easily manipulated by nefarious actors like Rupert Murdoch. @GreenFire oh I'm aware. I have no illusion that drive by posting on mastodon is significant political action in this case. Transit policy is hyperlocal, and this is basically the opposite of that @jenniferplusplus If we paid people to encourage healthier behaviors, we'd probably solve a lot of social problems. People are so blind to the incredulous destruction to our cities that are caused by autos, taking away all our safety and freedom of movement. Our society is so brainwashed by the automotive industry that when they see what they've lost right in front of their face, they always have to blame the victim or something else (but usually the victim). A child can't walk without supervision because of cars, a person cannot commute by bicycle because of cars, living is too dangerous.  @jenniferplusplus even people that drive should get behind this, as it would mean fewer cars on the road, so less traffic. @jenniferplusplus all those old cable cars and electric buses with overhead wires also show that it can be done since centuries with electricity only. Now get the energy from renewable sources and bingo, An easier more environmental friendly works for everyone but the fossil industry which directly destroys our liveable environment. @jenniferplusplus I don't have one right now (I used to, the outlay is pricey though), but in Ireland you can buy public transport tickets that give you tax credits: https://www.taxsaver.ie/  @jenniferplusplus agreed. but i would imagine that many cities that are handling their homelessness crisis poorly would then ask how they'd handle unhomed persons using the transit for safety :/ IMO transit would be treated like public libraries. https://thelocal.to/ttc-jamaal-myers-olivia-chow-shelters-shuttles-homeless/ @waffles well, if that city has already learned how to operate a net-positive socially beneficial public service, then I guess they would just do it again and have bus stops at the housing office to get those unhoused people a place to live. @jenniferplusplus Not very long ago Albuquerque New Mexico became the largest American city to make public transit free for all of its users. And they saved a ton of money by doing it  @jenniferplusplus Yep. Similarly, whenever some big-brained car fanatic says that cyclists should pay tolls to cross a bridge, I point out that the toll should be negative on the basis of avoided cost. @jenniferplusplus this used to be a thing in Canada. Bus pass costs were a tax credit. They killed it in 2017 though :(  @jenniferplusplus One of the major failures of thought in capitalist nations is that public transit should be a profit-making (or at the VERY least profit-neutral) enterprise, instead of a service like roads. |
@jenniferplusplus that would be a killer incentive