Here’s someone’s idea of a brilliant plan: get all your friends to fight the evil capitalistic system by refusing to pay for one of the most socialistic services in this country: public transit. On November 29 (the day after Thanksgiving), people are supposed to protest “the rich getting richer” by jumping turnstiles or otherwise refusing to pay for their transit rides.
Under the name “No Fare Is Fair,” people in Portland are refusing to pay and demanding free public transit, which supposedly represents social, economic, and climate justice. Similar groups are promoting fare strikes in Seattle, San Francisco, New York City, and no doubt elsewhere.
Just how mixed up can people be? Transit gets 75 percent of its funds from taxpayers who don’t use it — and these bozos want to increase it to 100 percent. Despite the subsidies, transit ridership is declining (except in Seattle), which is putting financial pressure on transit agencies that depend on fares to cover part of their costs. If riders refuse to pay, it merely proves socialized transit is a failure.
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Since transit is so heavily subsidized, just how does refusing to pay strike a blow against capitalism or the wealthy? Maybe the real problem is that, having socialized transit, people have come to believe that they are entitled to it as some sort of natural right. But everything comes with a cost, and if you aren’t willing to pay that cost, you might be able to dump the cost on someone else in the short run but in the long run you will lose whatever it is that you are demanding be free.
The real problem is that socialism makes things expensive. Why run buses when you can earn political favors by spending billions building rail lines? Why bother negotiating with unions when you can get their votes by agreeing to their demands for high pay and generous pensions? Why bother being efficient when you get rewarded for spending more?
I’d like to think that all the people who have to pay for transit out of their taxes even though they don’t use it could stop paying those taxes, but they can’t; it’s hard, for example, to pay only part of a sales tax. In lieu of that, refusing to pay transit fares will hasten the demise of socialized transit agencies, so I’m all for it. Personally, I will avoid paying by the simple expedient of not riding transit.
Making it free is an interesting idea, at least in some ways.
https://www.governing.com/columns/assessments/gov-free-ride.html
Overall though I don’t understand why the issue of paying is such a big deal. They’re viewing something there that 98.4% of people do not see. What is it?
I personally hope these spoiled children get what they want. Once the buses are trains become the regular domain of the homeless and drug dealers who have no fear of being bothered to show proof of payment, they’ll be begging to return to a system with at least nominal fares.
Secondly, since fares cover such a small share of costs and this is only a one-off event, I doubt that transit agencies will care about its impacts.
Thirdly, since many transit agencies are funded with (regressive) sales taxes, all these protesters are really doing is effectively sticking it to the poor.
If their respective cities wanna make it free, be my guest. What source of finance will they allocate to get it?
If they try to milk it straight from out of state taxpayers they’ll have lawsuits and protests galore. That’s the problem with “Socialism” is it’s NOT MY PROBLEM til the sticky fingers in your wallet.
In the long run transit use is steadily declining, it’s reliability, labor obligations; upkeep both structural and financial as well as public safety (smells, odors, disgusting acts) are all ticking timebombs that will inevitably whittle away at it’s pool of customers. While politicians get good press for pushing “Free transit” they’re robbing paul; promising peter and in the end robbing peter as well. Rudyard Kipling said it wisely
“only out of the savings of the thrifty can be made the wage-fund to set other men on the way to be prosperous.”
You cannot smash open another mans wallet when you wont even open your own.
Secondly, since fares cover such a small share of costs and this is only a one-off event, I doubt that transit agencies will care about its impacts.
I disagree. Free and reduced fares are a very POLITICAL decision. The average person believes fares pay for the full cost (or most of the cost) of the service, and that’s how transit agencies like it. I don’t believe I’ve ever even seen a transit agency official push for free fares (correct me if I am wrong).
The push for completely “free” transit comes from ignorant, demagogic politicians who don’t understand the careful balance of lying that transit advocates and agencies must maintain to avoid upsetting the voters who actually pay for all of it.
The groups promoting this understand all the things you say, but their goal is to destroy the system and blame the capitalists for doing this. They have enough support in the media to sell this fake story and there are enough people looking for freebies who will believe it without question.
Of course, we know how well the systems will be run if their socialist heroes take over. They think Venezuela and Cuba are success stories.
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The groups promoting this understand all the things you say, but their goal is to destroy the system and blame the capitalists for doing this.
That’s why they let local, loudmouth “activists” who aren’t important in any other manner do this work for them.