The farebox recovery ratio in many western nations are not enough to ever fully fund public transport. In many cases, the systems to collect fares end up costing hundreds of millions of dollars. These costs are never made back. It makes sense to make it free.
loeg|3 years ago
True, with emphasis on fully.
> In many cases, the systems to collect fares end up costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
That figure seems extremely high for "many cases," but the exact figure isn't really material.
> These costs are never made back. It makes sense to make it free.
No, that's just not true.
My local metro spent $17 million on fare collection to net $167 million in revenue (2019). It would have to cut $150 million in other service to go to free fares.
sien|3 years ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farebox_recovery_ratio
In many parts of the developed world the ratio is 30% plus which can be an enormous amount of money. In Boston fare revenue is 500M .
Making things free would cause big issues for many of them as you say.