by Martin Jacobs

Created on: April 11, 2009

Public Transportation Should Be Free

Someone who uses public transportation would probably disagree wholeheartedly. Why would someone mind paying a dollar and a half or two dollars to get from one place to another? It's a lot cheaper than taking a taxi.

In one city, Knoxville, Tennessee, it currently costs fifty dollars for a month long pass to ride the bus for thirty days. That includes transfer fees etc, a one-way ride on a bus costs a dollar and fifty cents and add fifty cents to that if you get a transfer pass. Senior citizens, disabled individuals and students from grades kindergarten to twelfth grade are half price of regular fares. A weekly pass costs from seven and a half dollars to fifteen. A one-day pass is from two to four dollars.

A "non-driving person" has to rely either on someone to take them where they need to go, take a taxi, walk or ride a bus. There are places they can't walk to, times when no one is available to give them a ride and other times when a taxi is just not financially feasible. At time like these public transportation is invaluable. They wouldn't mind paying a dollar and a half or two dollars to get where they need to go.

Suppose public transportation was "free". Where would the money to run the bus lines come from? From the taxpayer's pockets, that's where. County and city sales taxes would have to be raised; property and vehicle taxes would most likely go up as well. The money to pay for the privilege of public transportation would have to come from somewhere wouldn't it? There are a lot of costs to consider. There's the cost of the busses, the cost of the fuel of to run them, the cost of upkeep on them and the salaries of the people that work for the company (somebody has to drive the bus, route the traffic and take care of maintenance). When you take all of that into consideration two dollars doesn't seem like a lot to pay for a ride does it?

Some people may ask what about the inconvenience? You have to be at a certain place at a certain time, you have to wait for the bus to arrive, you have to stand in the/cold, sun/rain etc. What do you want, egg in your beer? OK, sure a taxi will come right to your front door and pick you up and/or bring you right back to your front door but you also pay an average of ten times as much for that service (and you STILL have to wait for the availability of a taxi).

For those without the option of personal private transportation, i.e., their own vehicle, then public transportation is well worth the cost.

So, should public transportation be free? It quite nearly is free, considering everything that enters into the equation.

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