The Case For Fare-Free Transit.

I realize that this isn't a Windsor-centric article - and I appoligise for that. We really do like to focus on all things Windsor, but if this idea spreads, we will honestly see Windsor's quality of life take a BIG turn for the better.

I am still going to publish it, however, because it is an idea that Transit Windsor General Manager Penny Williams REALLY needs to know about.

So here it is - a direct reprint from that wonderful e-zine The Tyee. Enjoy and spread the word.

17 Reasons (or More) to Stop Charging People to Ride the Bus

The time has come to stop making people pay to take public transit.

Why do we have any barriers to using buses, trolleys, SkyTrain? The threat of global warming is no longer in doubt. The hue and cry of the traffic jammed driver grows louder every commute. Yet since 2000, TransLink has hiked fares 50 per cent, and its board has just agreed to follow the staff’s recommendation to raise them higher still.

That kind of thinking is so last century.

Just ask the mayor of San Francisco, a city similar in size to Vancouver, who ordered his staff to seriously explore the cost efficiency of no longer charging people to ride public transit.

Listen to Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, who recently voiced to a reporter his top dream: "I would have mass transit be given away for nothing and charge an awful lot for bringing an automobile into the city."

Consider this sampling of communities providing free rides on trolleys, buses, trams, and ferries: Staten Island, NY; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Vail, Colorado; Logan and Cache Valley, Utah; Clemson, South Carolina; Commerce, California; Châteauroux, Vitré, and Compiègne, France; Hasselt, Belgium; Lubben, Germany; Mariehamn, Finland; Nova Gorica, Slovenia; Türi, Estonia; Övertorneå, Sweden.

Read the rest of this article, and the subsequent 4 parts at The Tyee.