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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @BeeRye 5 Nov \ parent \ on: Trump’s worst nightmare wins New York. Mamdani shows how Trump can be defeated. Politics_And_Law
people really do value their freedom to drive, it's hard to imagine any public transit system providing the same dynamic value proposition of being able to get in your car whenever you want and go wherever you want.
Yes I agree that is a significant barrier.
We are sold the car as a symbol of individual freedom - only to end up in gridlock.
You only need to shift 10% of commuters from using the car to public transport to get a significantly larger reduction in road congestion at peak traffic times.
Making public transport free to use in already highly congested cities could incentivise enough people to make the move and deliver better outcomes for most people.
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i can settle on subsidized public transportation where justified by population density, with a sustainable funding model agreed to in some fair manner, but free has too many negative externalities. People treat free stuff like total shit, so I think it would be important for there to be some cost as a public scheme to nudge people towards using public transportation.
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There is a cost in using public transport. Inconvenience. Using a bus will rarely be as convenient as driving your car.
There is also a significant benefit to others whenever someone uses public transport...reduced road congestion and reduced GHG emissions.
Conversely using a car imposes costs on others and relies on heavily subsidised road networks.
Car users are usually not paying thew true cost including externalities/consequences of their car use.
Therefore it is perfectly reasonable where possible to provide free to use public transport (funded by taxes on other road users who benefit from the reduced road congestion) to maximise public transport utilisation.
The ideal mix will vary depending on the market but in large already congested cities the benefits to most people from free public transport can be significant.
Currently we often have the worst possible mix with substantial tax subsidisation of public transport but minimal use of it because there is still an entry cost similar to taking your car.
There is a difficulty in neoliberal Libertarian ideologs in recognising that sometimes pure market forces do not deliver the best outcomes.
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