Comment on Here’s why some people still evade public transport fares – even when they’re 50 cents

ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

• RarePossum@programming.dev ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I think the main reason to not make it completely free was so they could track information via the tap on. That way they have data to plan route adjustments in the future.

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  • hitmyspot@aussie.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    They could quite easily do this with a driver manually counting on and off passengers. It wouldn’t need to be accurate, they could ballpark any numbers above 5. It could also be done with surveys are stops or on board, or with security camera footage. All without the infrastructure need. We also seem to be able to plan roads and spend even more than in public transport, without any need for registering trips.

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    • Zagorath@aussie.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Drivers don’t even have to manually count by hand. They already have a button that they’re meant to use to track fare evaders, to collect data on which routes have the most evaders. Just repurpose that button to track all users.

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    • Jumuta@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      i love adding facial recognition to every single thing we have

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      • hitmyspot@aussie.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        It doesn’t need facial recognition. If it’s for statistical purposes, it only need numbers in and off, not to track us. That’s the point.

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  • Tanoh@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    They could still have taps. I lived in another country that made bus fares free, but you still had to get a card and use it to tap on and off.

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• AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  The problem with free public transport is that’s, once there’s no cost to it, usage goes up qualitatively. People will pack onto a rammed bus rather than walk a few blocks because it’s easier, and those already on the bus will find their journeys becoming more unpleasant. Those who have cars will decide to start driving again, and the buses will become slower as they’re stuck in a traffic jam consisting of people who aren’t getting anywhere either but at least don’t have a stranger’s armpit next to their nose.

  So, anything short of having a communist revolution, confiscating all the private cars and using the seized wealth of the capitalist class to greatly increase capacity to where there’s a conveyor belt of buses with one every 30 seconds, free public transport will result in a soup kitchen system that nobody uses if they have an alternative.

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• Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  The zero price effect: “If something is free, you are the product”.

  They seem to be enforcing fares much like Frederick the Great guarded his potato fields.

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  • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    The zero price effect: “If something is free, you are the product”.

    Not in this case. It’s not really free: people pay for public transport in their taxes.

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    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      A more crucial question is: if public transport is nearly free but still generates overhead to manage and enforce fares, why not make it completely free and eliminate the overhead entirely?

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      • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Oh come on, you know what I mean: completely free as in you’re free to dump stuff in public trashcans but someone still has to pay for trash collection, and that someone is the taxpayer.

        If a bus fare costs. say, $4, and $3.50 are subsidized so the apparent cost to the bus riders is 50c, someone pays for the $3.50 and that’s everybody, including those who don’t ride the bus. Just like everybody pays for road maintenance in equal parts even if they don’t drive a lot.

        If policymakers decided to make everybody pay for 88% of a few people’s bus fare, they might as well make everybody pay 100% and safe the cost of printing bus tickets, programming bus cards and paying ticket controllers to catch fare dodgers.

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  • Jumuta@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    do you seriously not have enough brain cells to understand publically funded services like healthcare

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  • Zagorath@aussie.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    They seem to be enforcing fares much like Frederick the Great guarded his potato fields.

    They are absolutely not. If they were, it would be a good idea IMO. Keep the token fare to make tracking data easier and discourage bad behaviour. Enforce it only rarely, and mainly on routes where they have been said behaviour issues. But in fact reports are that their fare enforcement has not slowed down at all.

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