Public Transportation free public transportation would be a useless drain on the American economy. Firstly, a system of transportation with no regulated price would lack stability. Funding for public transportation would have to come from different areas and aspects of society which might severely upset many citizens. Criminals and drug dealers would see the new and free transportation system as a major benefit to their business. These individuals would deter current users from continued use of the public transportation system.
Supporters of free transportation see an ideal situation but do not take into consideration many of the factors that would come along with free transportation. In James Shaffer’s opinion on transportation policy, “The concept of unregulated market is a meaningless construct”(1).
Price is a regulatory device in any type of market. Because we are accustomed to our current systems of public transportation, it is hard to imagine a system that does not involve the use of fares and standard rate practices.
We step on the bus, we pay our fare or swipe our card, take our seat, then arrive at our destination. Without the immediate pay and receive factor, the user might feel uninvolved or detached from something they were once so involved in. Public transportation within cities is funded in part by both regulated fares, and taxpayer’s dollars. If legislation was to rule in favor of free public transportation for all citizens, where would the money come from? The most obvious solution to this problem would be to raise taxes.
This would stir up major complications within cities. The users of public transportation services would be paying more in tax rates than they would for the original fares. Also, negative tension would arise among those that do not use the public transportation systems because they would be paying for a commodity that they do not use. If public transportation was free throughout American cities, people who previously could not afford the cost of fares, such as the homeless or wandering criminals, would use the public transportation system more often.
This would cause many of current middle class users to stay clear of public transportation. People of the middle class have a certain expectations of standards within the public transportation system. With the addition of the poverty stricken class among public transportation services, many of its current middle class users would abandon using certain services that they once found so convenient. More violence would be present as a result of criminals and drug dealers who previously couldn’t afford the costs of public transportation.
Drug dealers would manipulate transportation systems to enhance their availability to their customers and increase their drug-running territories. Instead of finding the homeless asleep in alleyways or next to buildings, they would make a habit of falling asleep among the free transportation systems. At the end of the day, before going home, drivers and conductors would find the homeless bundled up in the back of the bus hoping to go unnoticed so they could have a place to sleep for the night. Women who could not provide for their newborn babies would leave them at the back of vehicles, making them someone else’s problem.
Although the transportation system would lose some customers, it would gain twice as many users. Commuters who walked or rode bicycles to their destinations would now be in favor of using the free transportation system. More buses would be in circulation and this will create a sufficient increase in city pollution. Growing taxes would have to increase that much more to provide for more buses, subway cars, and the electricity that powers each into service. With all the new transportation vehicles, more pollution would be circulated into our atmosphere.
Overall, the negative side of free public transportation greatly outweighs its benefits. Unneeded costs would affect all aspects of the economy. The standards of public transportation would drop dramatically. Certain groups would be prone to using the public transportation system while others would exclude themselves creating a schism between the classes. Public transportation would become a breeding ground for poverty and crime. Free public transportation is a wonderful idea that unfortunately, is completely unrealistic.