by Sarah Wood

Created on: August 10, 2010   Last Updated: September 07, 2010

Nothing is ever free and by that I mean that it will come out of your taxes; funds will be cut and so-on and so-forth. The problem I think that a lot of individuals are having with public transportation is that it should not necessarily be free, but that it should be more adept. Where I live, our buses stop running at 7 o'clock so for those who have to work clear across town, we have to walk, call a cab or we have to ride a bicycle. It also starts at 5 in the morning not to mention that it doesn't run on Sundays or such days as Christmas, Thanksgiving and even Valentines Day. The buses also do not run when they are doing little things downtown that involve closing down only a couple streets. It is a great hassle for those of us who have to work holidays and work late. Not only that, but the bus drivers are usually unbearable and seem dirty, most of them are not friendly and very rude. The only thing out there that has helped us is when they finally yes and I said it, they finally put up localized bus stops so that way you know where to pick up the bus and where to get off and that was in 2009.

The problem with this question is that it does not look at the whole spectrum. Some cities like New York, Texas, Mississippi and other bigger states have awesome transportation, but for other smaller populated states such as Idaho, Oregon and among others, do not have a great bus system. Where I live it costs 1.50 for a day pass that ironically runs till eleven even though the buses are such down at 7. Do you see what I mean? Out where I live I believe it should be free only because the bus system out here sucks. They do not look at how spaced out each town is and where businesses are. They look at what is most convenient on them and what will save them money. I also live in a state where road construction during summer is crazy even though there isn't much traffic and every year they fix the capital building on some level.

At one point, they had a gathering of people who wanted to change the bus system. Like always, the politicians have not listened. In fact the majority of the population that had went were in support for even breaking out another fifty dollars out of taxes so that way we could gather up enough money to get another bus system, but still the politicians did not listen.

I believe that it would depend on where you live. If you live in places like New York and Dallas, I believe you should pay for tickets. It only makes it fair to the rest of the population, but if you live in a medium sized city such as I do, than I suggest allowing it to be free. If it took this long to put down actual bus stops and routes, than I would say it is only fair to make it free. However, unfortunately nothing is free in this world and sooner or later the rest of the population would have to pay for it. At least in cities such as mine, I believe that there should be some sort of free service where if they cannot or will not listen to the public, than it should be free, but I would not want it to be taken out of taxes so that that way it won't be actually used for the bus system.

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