In this one I'm going to discuss the pros and cons of fare-free transit as neutrally as possible. Fare-free transit is way more controversial than it should ...
There are legitimate cons to fare-free public transport:
In places with large populations where fares currently make up a large portion of revenue, removing fares reduces the total funding and may necessitate cutting routes or frequency
Many more new riders, in a system that is not receiving the automatic boost in funding that would come with fares, may result in being unable to expand to accommodate the new riders adequately
The extra funding from tax revenue would be more efficiently spent on expanding the network (routes or frequencies) rather than further subsidising the existing routes
Increases in “problem riders” (though the video addresses why this is overstated)
But there are many more important pros:
Equity: it may have little impact on commutes to work, but opens up the ability for people to travel to other destinations much more easily
Lower admin costs: no need to pay fare enforcers, no need to pay for expensive tech solutions for payment systems, etc.
Operator safety: some studies suggest the main source of conflict between operators and passengers is at the fare box.
Increases ridership. Duh.
The video makes a bunch more points than just this. The above is only a summary (and already quite a lossy summary) of roughly the 1st half of the video.
Another huge benefit is eliminating the mental overhead of deciding “is this trip worth the fare?” which disproportionatly affects low-income riders who have to calculate every expense.
There are legitimate cons to fare-free public transport:
But there are many more important pros:
The video makes a bunch more points than just this. The above is only a summary (and already quite a lossy summary) of roughly the 1st half of the video.
Another huge benefit is eliminating the mental overhead of deciding “is this trip worth the fare?” which disproportionatly affects low-income riders who have to calculate every expense.
I believe that falls under equity.