Brett MaverixPublic transport should be free
Now as far as I am aware, I pay for public transport in my taxes. Explain to me please then why I have to pay to use this service for wich I've already apparently paid?
Most responses lean towards the idea of a user pays system. The idea being that if you don't use public transport then you don't have to pay for any more than the amount put aside in tax and instead your revenue goes towards exciting and personal things like cars and roads which continue to wreak havoc on our communities, wildlife and environment.
At present, users of public transport are essentially double or really triple disadvantaged than those who don't. Firstly by paying tax for public transport, secondly by paying again to use the system and thirdly by seeing rewards go to those who don't use the system and use cars instead, for instance the petrol rebates for business use.
In my mind that's just fucked.
In a world already messed up by climate change and everyone scrambling for solutions to the high price of oil and how to cut greenhouse gases, it seems pretty strange to me that nobody has raised the idea of free, clean, public transport.
Technology exists today to make vast and efficient public transport networks in our cities and have these transport systems run almost entirely off renewables.
This system would of course require a significant investment and opponents would argue that people that don't use the system would be unfairly paying too much for the system through taxes but you know what? They should. People who don't use public or clean green transport should be paying at least double for the privelege of ruining this planet. Triple even. There should be a public transport levy attached to evaery private and business internal combustion motor vehicle registration.
The argument is that the cost of such a 'free' public transport system is too much for the taxpayer to bear. But guess what? The cost of policing the ticketing system on existing public transport systems is about the same as the amount pulled in from those same ticket sales so we really wouldn't be paying much more at all. And if we do put a motor vehicle levy on then we'll barely notice the change.
Then of course, extra revenue could be generated through advertising on the systems. A free public transport system that is world class would attract a multitude of users from all walks of life which opens up a huge market for the advertising savvy. Countless people who normally doze off on the transport could be entertained and quite frankly nobody is going to mind a free ride anyway! People who have never used public transport will realise the time and monetary savings they could make and since 'saving the planet' is highly fashionable right now I'm sure that nobody will mind a steady barrage of advertising junk.
People would say that there's not enough people interested in public transport. Well I think that huge numbers would be if it was, clean, green, free, safe and faster. We can easily achieve clean, green, free, safe and fast public transport with the technology available today. So what are we waiting for?
Most responses lean towards the idea of a user pays system. The idea being that if you don't use public transport then you don't have to pay for any more than the amount put aside in tax and instead your revenue goes towards exciting and personal things like cars and roads which continue to wreak havoc on our communities, wildlife and environment.
At present, users of public transport are essentially double or really triple disadvantaged than those who don't. Firstly by paying tax for public transport, secondly by paying again to use the system and thirdly by seeing rewards go to those who don't use the system and use cars instead, for instance the petrol rebates for business use.
In my mind that's just fucked.
In a world already messed up by climate change and everyone scrambling for solutions to the high price of oil and how to cut greenhouse gases, it seems pretty strange to me that nobody has raised the idea of free, clean, public transport.
Technology exists today to make vast and efficient public transport networks in our cities and have these transport systems run almost entirely off renewables.
This system would of course require a significant investment and opponents would argue that people that don't use the system would be unfairly paying too much for the system through taxes but you know what? They should. People who don't use public or clean green transport should be paying at least double for the privelege of ruining this planet. Triple even. There should be a public transport levy attached to evaery private and business internal combustion motor vehicle registration.
The argument is that the cost of such a 'free' public transport system is too much for the taxpayer to bear. But guess what? The cost of policing the ticketing system on existing public transport systems is about the same as the amount pulled in from those same ticket sales so we really wouldn't be paying much more at all. And if we do put a motor vehicle levy on then we'll barely notice the change.
Then of course, extra revenue could be generated through advertising on the systems. A free public transport system that is world class would attract a multitude of users from all walks of life which opens up a huge market for the advertising savvy. Countless people who normally doze off on the transport could be entertained and quite frankly nobody is going to mind a free ride anyway! People who have never used public transport will realise the time and monetary savings they could make and since 'saving the planet' is highly fashionable right now I'm sure that nobody will mind a steady barrage of advertising junk.
People would say that there's not enough people interested in public transport. Well I think that huge numbers would be if it was, clean, green, free, safe and faster. We can easily achieve clean, green, free, safe and fast public transport with the technology available today. So what are we waiting for?
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