Warning: if you allow people to ride transit for free, they will ride transit for free. The issue of complimentary bus service rolled through headlines this week after Vancouver Coun. Jean Swanson put forward a motion that – if approved by her colleagues, TransLink, and the province – would allow youth to bus, SkyTrain, and SeaBus without digging into their pockets.
We’ve been alerted – mainly by those aghast at bridge tolls and congestion pricing – that implementing free transit might engender a sense of entitlement in youth. The logic expressed in bumper stickers and heavy metal lyrics boils down to four words: nobody rides for free.
We couldn’t agree more.
Unless other services are cut, Swanson’s magic transit carpet will mean a hefty hike to other fares or property taxes. But it still may be the cheapest choice.
Every time a driver’s internal combustion engine grunts to life we pay. And no, we are not arguing for the polar bear clinging to vanishing Arctic ice or the child suffering respiratory problems. We are addressing ballooning health care costs, infrastructure imperilled by the advancing water line and street-paralyzing gridlock.
Uber will not save us. More crossings will bring more problems. But, as tobacco companies once demonstrated, habits formed in childhood become adamantine by adulthood. Creating a generation of transit riders could result in a more egalitarian, environmentally-minded society. But, if all we get are a few more kids riding buses and a few of their parents ditching the car to ride with them, it may still be a price worth paying.
Honk if you agree.
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