“The reason most public transportation is seen as ‘losing’ money is precisely because it charges for trips. If you don't charge fares, suddenly it can't ‘lose’ money. It just costs money, the same as the roads.”
This random comment has given me my new favourite argument for removing fares from public transit.
@dx OMG yes. Just, shift the (lexical) fields and treat it like the public service it is.
Nevermind that fare enforcement is incredibly expensive in most places, or that fares are heavily subsidized for many so it's mostly a government money shell game.
Unfortunately, that seems way out of the current overtone window: for instance, the French government made it clear that any transit network that stops charging fares, will not get national subsidies :/
