Hi I’m a socialist transit worker and I thought free bus fare was a no brainer until I worked in transit, it’s an awful idea. Transit cannot function effectively as transit when it is being forced to operate as a mobile shelter and bottle and wagon transit system. Fund shelters and ease the burden shouldered by transit.
(By all means make transit incredibly inexpensively accessible to anyone who needs it)
I apparently wasn’t clear enough here, I’m sure there are places where free transit works great because people are so well cared for and general safety is so high that it’s not an issue. That sounds wonderful, I want that here. However, I have learned the hard way that transit needs to continue being accessible to the majority even when there are people who have slipped fully into the margins who present hazards to transit customers. (Customers meaning people who need transit to travel)
Point blank, that is not an issue caused by free transit. This is the logical equivalent of saying the school system is broken because people keep showing up to them with guns.
Point blank, the inability to deny people entry to transit and to use transit as a mobile shelter is having catastrophic impacts on overall transit use. This is the equivalent of saying the school system is broken because people keep showing up at schools and screaming at people, assaulting people, soiling themselves and the facilities and the staff have no ability to separate them or remove them from the school, so the rest of the students get home schooled or private schooled and effectively don’t have access to public school. (Oh yeah, and tons of teachers and staff quit)
They need HELP and a transit system as a shelter and drug safe use space is just about the least efficient way I can imagine to help them and makes it less safe and accessible to everyone else.
I don’t understand why having fare free buses would mean that you can’t remove disruptive people from the bus. If there is a policy that you can’t deny anyone entry to the bus, that seems like a separate issue with a different solution to charging a fare. Seems like there could be rules about how much you can bring with you on the bus to solve the bottle and wagon transit issue for example.
I totally agree that the issue of homelessness needs to be addressed, and I would hope that he would address that issue as well. Seems like the whole “Build affordable housing” thing would be a start. It might be easier for people who want to get off the streets to do so if they could actually afford rent.
Hi I’m a socialist transit worker and I thought free bus fare was a no brainer until I worked in transit, it’s an awful idea. Transit cannot function effectively as transit when it is being forced to operate as a mobile shelter and bottle and wagon transit system. Fund shelters and ease the burden shouldered by transit.
(By all means make transit incredibly inexpensively accessible to anyone who needs it)
I apparently wasn’t clear enough here, I’m sure there are places where free transit works great because people are so well cared for and general safety is so high that it’s not an issue. That sounds wonderful, I want that here. However, I have learned the hard way that transit needs to continue being accessible to the majority even when there are people who have slipped fully into the margins who present hazards to transit customers. (Customers meaning people who need transit to travel)
Point blank, that is not an issue caused by free transit. This is the logical equivalent of saying the school system is broken because people keep showing up to them with guns.
Point blank, the inability to deny people entry to transit and to use transit as a mobile shelter is having catastrophic impacts on overall transit use. This is the equivalent of saying the school system is broken because people keep showing up at schools and screaming at people, assaulting people, soiling themselves and the facilities and the staff have no ability to separate them or remove them from the school, so the rest of the students get home schooled or private schooled and effectively don’t have access to public school. (Oh yeah, and tons of teachers and staff quit)
They need HELP and a transit system as a shelter and drug safe use space is just about the least efficient way I can imagine to help them and makes it less safe and accessible to everyone else.
I don’t understand why having fare free buses would mean that you can’t remove disruptive people from the bus. If there is a policy that you can’t deny anyone entry to the bus, that seems like a separate issue with a different solution to charging a fare. Seems like there could be rules about how much you can bring with you on the bus to solve the bottle and wagon transit issue for example.
I totally agree that the issue of homelessness needs to be addressed, and I would hope that he would address that issue as well. Seems like the whole “Build affordable housing” thing would be a start. It might be easier for people who want to get off the streets to do so if they could actually afford rent.