So, before attempting to watch it — does this even begin to consider anything beyond money?
- free libraries "sound" great, but...
- free k-12 education sounds great
- free fire department sounds great...
I see 2 sides:
- theoretical: we decide that some things should be free at point-of-use
- practical: we start where we are, and it's hard to get from here to there, so we compromise and say, yeah, we just can't make the jump to good, free transit
A better question than "should transit be free" is "what conditions would be necessary 1st", then work towards those
@ohtheurbanity
I think one necessary condition is public perception of transit as valuable and sufficient. The only way to get there is to gradually increase ridership and service level.
Where I live (Minneapolis MN USA), public schools offer free bus passes to anyone who opts-out of the yellow buses; and the state university and many colleges also give free bus passes. That has shifted much of the high-school bus ridership from yellow buses to city transit.