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Free Public Transport Argumentative Essay Example

Type of paper: Argumentative Essay

Topic: Environment , Money , Traffic , Transportation , Pollution , Cars , Infrastructure , Vehicles

Published: 12/08/2019

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Public transportation system is usually used by common people who can not afford using the cars or other private vehicles. Almost every country has a public transport system which is funded by the government and the services are made available at lower rates. People and nongovernmental organizations from across the globe have started advocating for a free transport system, they say that it would not only encourage the people to keep their vehicles at home but also it solves several economic, environmental and social problems. Several campaigns are being run in different countries for a free transport system. This paper discusses the free transport system and several related aspects. The logical aspect behind the free public transport is that 50 people need 50 cars to travel but their requirements can be fulfilled by a single bus also, it saves a large amount of fuel and further it helps the environment. If 50 cars are stuck and keep their engines on just for one minute in the traffic, they consume the bigger amount of fuel and the bus can travel miles in that amount. If the people are provided even free transportation, the money which is saved by not using 50 cars, is saved and remains in their country. The roads will be congestion free and also there will be enough space for the cyclists. Hasselt, a city in Belgium used to be one of the most congested cities. Hasselt city council introduced a free transportations system in the year 1996 and since then the number of bus travelers have increased by almost 1300%. The problem of congestion on the roads has been almost solved. The people who use their private vehicles for transportation are somehow polluting the environment and ethically they are guilty to those who do not put in the pollution in the environment. The coming generation have every right to get a pollution free environment and undamaged ozone layer and it is our ethical duty to provide them their right as we have received the same from the people of earlier generations. People who advocate for the free public transport say that this step is going to benefit the society in many ways. If the transport is free, a large number of people will use the same which results into congestion free roads, expanded space, less pollution, less wastage of money during pick traffic hours. Fewer vehicles on the road means less health problems, no road rages, saving of the money and control on the rampant effects of the pollution on the ozone layer and the environment. On the other hand, there are people who oppose the idea by saying that the people who use the public transport should pay and why its burden should be on those who never use public transport. They further say that the concept of the free transport is not practical, nothing comes for free and the users who use the services are liable to pay for it. After having observed the several aspects of a free transport system, it is clear to say that the concept is very good and if implemented properly, it can solve many problems. This is the demand of the time and the people as well as the governments should seriously think about this idea.

Works Cited

Frederic P Miller, Agnes F Vandome and John McBrewster. Free Public Transport. Saarbrucken: VDM Publishing House Ltd., 2010. OECD. Road Travel Demand: Meeting the Challenge. Paris: OECD Publishing, 2002. White, Peter. Public transport: its planning, management and operation. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2009.

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argumentative essay free public transportation

Should public transit be free? Experts weigh in on policy options

With outdated funding models and questions about whether riders care more about fares or service, opinions are divided on the future of public transportation.

With companies addressing how their employees will return to the office as the pandemic recedes, public transportation is a key part of the policy dialogue. Would free ridership keep autos off the road, a huge benefit for climate change? For the many essential workers who continued to commute during the pandemic, public transportation failed in many ways with interrupted and unreliable service.  How will free fares address this inequity? Is it even what commuters want?

As part of the Greater Boston Debate Series, sponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston based at Harvard Kennedy School, panelists debated the merits of free ridership, a movement gaining momentum in American cities from Los Angeles to Kansas City to Worcester. In the upcoming mayoral race in Boston, nearly every candidate has expressed support of some form of fare elimination. But is the idea fiscally sustainable? Does it weaken transportation options, especially for low-wage earners who depend on it the most? The debate, featuring proponents and opponents of free ridership making their cases, was moderated by Monica Tibbits-Nutt, executive director of 128 Business Council, an organization that runs shuttle services in Massachusetts, and an advisory board member of the Rappaport Institute. 

David Bragdon, executive director of TransitCenter, a foundation in New York that focuses on improving public transportation in U.S. cities, began by reframing the issue. “I’m going to pose a bigger question,” he said. “What can and should society do to help low-income people for whom the price of a transit ticket is an obstacle?” He suggested that local governments should provide targeted discounts to help alleviate poverty. “It’s similar to what we do with other public utilities in our society, whether it’s electric bills, water bills, or for that matter food—a human right where we have a SNAP program—or housing, where we have vouchers.”

He also pointed to rider surveys his foundation has conducted showing that transit patrons at every income level rank service, quality, and quantity over the fare price. And fare revenue provides the income to improve those services. In New York, 50 percent of fare revenue goes to infrastructure. In Chicago, it is 40 percent and in San Francisco, 62 percent. “If you tell a transit agency you’re going to take that revenue away, I can guarantee there is one thing that they can do: cut service,” Bragdon said. “That is just the math of it. But if riders are being helped by getting a free ticket to a really substandard product, I’d want to know that.”

“If riders are being helped by getting a free ticket to a really substandard product, I’d want to know that.”

David bragdon.

Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, an organization that advocates for equitable and safe public transportation in the Boston area, agreed with the need to expand and improve service, but questioned whether it will bring more people to public transportation. “Kansas City and Worcester, communities offering free ridership throughout the pandemic, demonstrated much more resilient ridership than their peer transit systems of similar size and demographics,” she noted.

Thompson pointed out fare collection can actually cost transit operations money and increase public safety incidents on transit vehicles. “We know that fare disputes are the leading cause of safety incidents for our operators and systems across the country,” she said. “A 12-month study statewide of free buses, such as a pilot in Massachusetts, can provide the data points needed to move this decision,” she added. “And we’re in a moment where we have federal funds for this kind of thing. We need to ask what kind of riders ride? I actually don’t think that free transit is going to move car drivers necessarily, but if it brings on more people who had an actual cost burden, that’s important. We need to ask how much money was saved in the agency by not collecting fares? We need to ask about the transit driver experience. Was it easier to do their job?”

Tibbits-Nutt summed up this important discussion by noting that while there is disagreement on the idea of free transit, the speakers agree that communities need to begin thinking about more progressive ways to fund our transit systems: “I think transit is always going to be vital to the health of our communities.”

You can listen to the complete debate here .  The Greater Boston Debate Series will resume in the fall.

— Banner image: Riders board a "T" trolley car in Boston on the day when the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority let people ride for free as a goodwill gesture following a winter of disastrous breakdowns. Photo by Bill Sikes

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Five actions state and local leaders can take to prepare for autonomous vehicles, the high cost of free roads: q&a with linda bilmes and stevie olsen, a unique opportunity puts hks students front and center in boston government.

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DebateWise

Public Transport Should Be Free

Cities need good public transit or they grind to a halt. Growing cities in the developing world often have traffic jams that choke up whole expressways for days. The reliance on the car also leads to large amounts of pollution, both smog and CO2 emissions. The solutions for these problems is more and better public transit. In cities the public transport network can be dense enough that users do not need to walk far to reach their nearest stop. Should public transit not be seen as a public service and be free in order to encourage people out of their cars?

All the Yes points:

How to get to work, money saved, will encourage people not to drive, will open opportunities for new businesses, some people are very poor, all the no points:, private companies, not enough capacity, bus driver’s salary, and crowded transport., it already is almost free., more pollution , we need to combat heart disease, we need to improve the transport system, this costs, people are misguided as to cost allocation, people can walk for free, yes because….

There are so many people without a car. They don’t have enough money to use public transportation. How are they supposed to get to work?

No because…

no importance of making it free for people who don’t have money and can’t get to work because of it. why? 1. People who apply for job should know where their job place is, and how they can get there. if they know that they don’t have money, they should’ve find another nearer place that they can get only by walking, etc. it is ridiculous that you apply for job without knowing where your job place is, and even if you know you’re still being stubborn and take the position. 2. even if those people are being stubborn, and they still take the position, there’s nothing government can do with that. look, when these people want this position, they should know the consequences of having a very far job place or things. and when the consequence is they have to pay some amountt of money because of applying for a far job place. since these people will get money by the job, so that’s why this consequence belong to them.

Although the idea of riding the bus every day to work is not very appealing, saving money every week on gas is. At an average of 3.10 a gallon, filling an average sized SUV can cost anywhere from 50-65 dollars. The cost of gas has become so high that some workers are unable to pay for their commute without significantly reducing their take home pay. Free public transportation is the answer for hard working people to have more money in their pockets, clean air in their lungs and a better future for their children. Some governments have considered paying for public transport out of taxpayers’ money, making it free. This would take cars, along with congestion, off our roads, and help the environment, so many people think it’s a great idea and everyone would be able to see its advantage. However, like nearly all policies, it does have its cons. In Belgium the government made public transport free, and it was a huge success. Lots of money was saved by all parties; the transport companies, the government and particularly the customers. They saved on everything, even printing tickets. It is still free.

By making public transport free, the Government would be encouraging people to use public transport instead of driving to and from work. Whilst there may be the initial lack of revenue from the ticket prices, the Government would benefit the environment. This would mean that they would have to pay less for pollution schemes and pay less for cleaning the streets. They would also have to pay less for the upkeep of roads, this upkeep of roads currently costs 15million GBP. [[http://www.freightonrail.org.uk/PDF/Research-Maintenance.pdf]] By encouraging less people to drive, the Government could cut these costs and this would help fund the free transport.

The introduction of the Oyster card was supposed to have a similar effect. It reduced the costs of tickets and made the service more efficient, but it has done relatively little to the number of people who drive. If people have a car, they are inclined to use it rather than walking and getting transport. Public transport is always going to be cheaper than running a car, yet people still drive. It is not cost that is a motivating factor for drivers to take public transport. It is convenience.

If people were able to travel easily to areas slightly out of urban areas then businesses could take advantage of cheaper ground rents out of the city and yet easy access to employees. With more businesses able to start up, the Government would be able to take advantage of more tax. This would mean less benefits paid for unemployment benefit as jobs are created out of the city, and more tax via income tax, and then more tax revenue via corporation tax on the business. This additional revenue could offset the loss of income from public transport. In our dying economy, this is what is needed.

Once something is completely free people tend not to value it all that much. However it should be priced much cheaper than it is, so that for most urban journeys it becomes the obvious choice. One problem at the moment is that regular users can usually buy a pass which is reasonable value, but the casual bus user tends to get ripped off. This means that once somebody has a car, they are likely to use it, even if a bus exists. Another problem is that many bus routes do not connect well, especially in off peak periods. One idea that would be worth trying would be to allow people to buy a year long, all routes bus pass in exchange for a single fee, payable at the same time that they pay their Local Government taxes. If urban public transport is going to succeed, it is also necessary to provide better public transport between urban centres, and from the countryside to urban centres. Many people who visit the urban centres do not live within that conurbation. Public transport to and from the countryside or even the near-town suburbs is verging on non-existant, at least in Britain. I fully identify with the point that journeys such as getting from home to a small industrial estate across town are often difficullt or even impossible. The fact that some people are very poor is largely an argument for greater fairness and equality in income distribution, rather than a public transport argument.

In my opinion I think that public transit should be free because there a lot of people in the world that don’t have the money to pay for there gas. Some people even have to bike to work. Some people don’t even have a car or a bike. It is even eco friendly because there would be less people on cars which means that there would be less car polling. The world will have more gas and will save money each time you take public transit because there are more people on the transit which will help the environment.

Nothing is free,it just means taking more from the tax payer to fund it. Don’t you think the taxpayer is paying enough ?. It would not and does not take the people from their cars onto the bus,it is inconvenient, and more enjoyable in the car.It will NEVER save the planet or anything else. Have you seen the free bus services and free park and ride ?. I have and the buses are EMPTY and they use 4 times more fuel than a car,and are left running at the bus stations for up to half hour at the rural bus stations. They are(as the trains are) already paid for by the tax payer anyway so it is not right to have to make up for the bit of revenue the transport takes from the passenger. A bus costs approximately £80 per hour to run, with purchase of the bus, tax and 2 insurances, fuel, wages, administration, maintenance and repairs,etc etc.No its more like £100 perhour EACH bus. The only thing the bus services are doing in rural towns and villages is keeping themselves in jobs,they are empty, and the taxpayer is paying for that.Bus fares are cheap enough in the cities. Free to some is expense to others.

Private companies can not afford to provide free transportation on its own without the support of government and if government provide this facility then the huge part of budget will go in this sector and then the government how can manage the other basic needs of public like health, education and other necessary public services. There are two types of public transport: run by the government and by the private companies. While the later seems impossible to provide free-of-charge transport, the former has the possibility of providing what the private companies can’t. In one hand this policy would make lessen people’s expenses in transport but in the other hand it’s killing the income of the private companies since people would choose the free-of-charge transport.

Private companies could provide free public transport if the government paid them to do so. An example of this happening on a limited scale is the free bus passes that are given to pensioners in Britain.

Being free will make something much more popular, in the case of public transport this is something that would be a good thing. However across the world transport networks are already at capacity. Could the London underground cope if it was free and suddenly numbers using it jumped dramatically? Probably not. Unfortunately transport infrastructure takes a long time to build so it would be a long time before there could be an increase to match ridership. This would also be costly – a cost that could obviously not be paid off by selling tickets.

It may be possible to make public transport free during quiet periods, late at night or during the middle of the day while charging a lot in peak periods so as to encourage more people to use public transport when it is not already at peak capacity.

Alot of people only make money from driving bus’s around and if they do it for free how do the company’s make money? This could lower the salary for the driver,s which means less money for the drivers. Also People who don’t own cars will always use puplic transport making it much more crowded and less comforatble for the passengers. Do you want to walk into a bus filled with so many people you have to stand? Not to mention alot of people walk to places using less gas, and if everyone uses bus’s that will make the weight of the bus heavier resulting in using more gas. Not to mention if its free the idea of puplic transport will be more popular so the companies will have to make much more (Bus’s, Subways,e.t.c). Making much more Bus’s will cost alot of many. These are reasons why public transport should not be free.

The actual cost is not really an issue. Presumably the tab would simply be picked up by government. The transport being free would not make bus drivers into volunteers. However the technology is increasingly moving towards being able to have driver-less cars, so why not driver-less buses? Driver-less trains are already possible. The environmental argument you put forward is however wrong. yes a more crowded bus will use more fuel than one that is not crowded. However it uses much less per person. This actually means that overall there is a fuel saving to having buses (and other public transport as full as possible). This is exactly the same as the idea behind car sharing. Similarly the cost (environmental and monetary) of building new buses is much less than building the cars to transport an equivalent number of people – even if we make the assumption that some of them will be changing from walking. Being on a crowded bus is still far less stressful than driving. You can use your phone or fall asleep without being in danger of your life, you aren’t susceptible to road rage, you don’t have to worry about running out of petrol or damaging your car or getting lost. The overall cost is so much less than running a car, monetary stress will be less.

The fares collected hardly pay for the bus company,s overheads. They are subsidised by the tax payer. People should realise that the cost of the bus plus enormous amounts of insurances and wages wear and tear maintenance runnung costs admin and admin offices garages etc etc. To a point it should not be any freer.

Most busses here advertise that the bus replaces 5 cars.The car does 40mpg ?, the bus does 15mpg but is left running non stop at the bus stations spewing out thick diesel fumes,and is paid for by the tax payer as they are always empty both ways every half hour where I live. Most of the routes at most times of the day could be covered by a taxi at a tremendously lower rate than the busses. The transport systems in the uk are subsidised too much by the taxpayer without making the underpriced tickets free.

In 2007, cardiovascular disease (CVD) caused 34% of deaths in the UK, and killed just over 193,000 people. [[http://www.heartstats.org/topic.asp?id=17]] This is a startling statistic and it an easily circumvented disease. The prevention is in exercise. If we gave people free urban transport, people would begin cutting down on the little exercise they do!! Instead of walking for 5 minutes people would take the free transport. This is not something we should encourage.

At least they will walk to the bus stop instead of getting in their car yards from the front door! If people are inclined to walk they are unlikely to be stopped by free buses, quite the opposite, they are more likely to walk a distance for the shopping, rather than take the car, because they know that they can hop on the bus to carry it back if they acquire heavy items, or it comes on rain or the return walk is otherwise made uncongenial.

In order for transport to remain environmentally friendly and efficient, it needs to be continually maintained. The Liberal democrats understood this as they argued for spending more on public transport not less[[http://www.libdems.org.uk/siteFiles/resources/PDF/Election%20Policy/Liberal%20Democrat%20Environment%20Manifesto.pdf]]. Old buses and old trains pollute more than new systems. There are various technological developments that have helped this. However, in order for the research into technology to be conducted, in order for that research to be implemented, money is needed. Money in the public purse is in low supply. Therefore, it is not viable for the public transport system to be both environmentally friendly and free.

There are many ways in which such a system will in fact save the Government money. The costs on the environment clean up policy has already been mentioned, but then we have the benefit of fewer health care costs. As the air cleans in city centers as people use less cars, rate of asthma will decrease and therefore so will the NHS bill.

People seem to be under the impression that the maintenance of roads is free and therefore think that public transport should also be free [[http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/transit_should.php]]. However, people pay road tax to cover the costs for roads. There is also the high level of tax paid on petrol, making the Government 23.6 billion GBP a year. [[http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/6/F/pbr_csr07_endofyear321.pdf]] This is how the money is obtained to pay for the roads, they are not free. If public transport were made free, we would be made to pay for the service via a tax. There is little point in doing this, all it is doing is transferring costs from direct payment to indirect taxation.

This is not a misapprehension at all, quite simply the use of the roads would be rather more efficient if everyone was on buses rather than cars, if 50 people get on a single bus thats 20-30 fewer cars; it should be fairly obvious what that does to wear and tear on the road, thus reducing the maintenance cost!

“More than half of the world’s population lives near an urban center.” With this being so, why should public transport be free? If we take the urban cities where the jobs are, where the activities are, everything is so close together that walking is a perfectly viable option. With this being so, why should the Government offer public transport for free? At the moment people have the option to either walk or get public transport. If people choose not to walk, then they should pay.

This rather hinges on ‘near’ near does not mean much, you can live within the M25 and still be many miles from the Center of London, as the M25 is between 12 to 20 miles away from the center all the way round, by almost anyones definition people within the M25 are in London yet they are not within walking distance by any stretch of the imagination!

Public transport should’ve absolutely been free for the elderly as of the reasons listed above.

Public transport a should be free for the elderly. IT doesn’t help those of which have mental issues. Also, paying for public transport costs a certain amount of money whichever some people cannot afford like poor people and those of which are saving money but aren’t wealthy. Public transport should be free for the elderly.

Many people say to ride bike instead of cars….. Than shouldn’t the government make the public transportation free? In addition, there are many people who don’t own their driving license. And poor people can’t afford a car… Even small cars worth 2 thousand won…

I drive a minibus about 10hrs a day. I’d say if you can legit get idiots to stop thinking that just because they “can” get a liscense, that they “know” how to drive, and instead get on a bus, do it. The issue isn’t that bus fare is too costly, it’s that (here in California) bus fare is like $1.75 and 96% of voters support raising funds for public transport, yet only 6% of the people actually ride the damn things. California’s current population is about 49m, and each one of them want to sit in traffic for 2+ hours driving 50+ miles to work, rather than taking the train that goes the same way. The issue isn’t about making public transport more affordable, it’s educating idiots driving personal transport vehicals that there are other ways of getting around, and helping pace the traffic flow. The other issue is car loans, houses fine, but cars? I personally think car loans should be outlawed; you want to drive yourself around and hog up traffic, that’ll be $44k. Can’t afford that? Well, at least public transport is free, and you wont lose your home attempti g to pay for both.

Could you make that a bit more appropriate?

How do you get to school or work every day. There are so many people with out a car. They don’t have enough money to use public transportation. How are they supposed to get to work? And for students that go into town every day it ends up costing lots of money and some people don’t have that money so it can be a real problem for them. Although the idea of riding the bus every day to work is not very appealing, saving money every week on gas is. The cost of gas has become extremely high, For a small car it can cost around about $50-$350, So that means that some workers are unable to pay for their petrol.

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Should Public Transit Be Free?

Several cities in Massachusetts are experimenting with free public transit. Do you think that getting to and from work and school on public transportation should be a right?

argumentative essay free public transportation

By Nicole Daniels

Find all our Student Opinion questions here.

How do people get around in your community? Are there different forms of public transit, such as trains and buses? Is it more common for people to drive or cycle to and from work and school? Does your community have shared forms of transit like ride-share services, taxis or shared bikes?

Do you think your community should make public transit free for everyone?

In “ Should Public Transit Be Free? More Cities Say, Why Not? ,” Ellen Barry writes about cities in Massachusetts that are experimenting with offering free public transit:

Mayor Daniel Rivera of Lawrence, intrigued after hearing his friend Ms. Wu speak about fare-free transit, asked his regional transit authority how much was collected on three of the city’s most-used bus lines. The answer was such a small amount — $225,000 — that he could offset it from the city’s surplus cash reserves. “What I like is the doability of this, the simplicity of it,” Mr. Rivera said. “We are already subsidizing this mode of transportation, so the final mile is very short. It isn’t a service people need to pay for; it’s a public good.” Around 100 cities in the world offer free public transit, the vast majority of them in Europe, especially France and Poland. A handful of experiments in the United States in recent decades, including the cities of Denver and Austin, were viewed as unsuccessful, because there was little evidence that they removed cars from the road; new riders tended to be poor people who did not own cars, according to a 2012 review by the National Academies Press. But in another sense, they were successful: They increased ridership right away, with rises between 20 and 60 percent in the first few months. That statistic accounts for its revival among a new wave of urban progressives, who see transit as a key factor in social and racial inequality.

Some cities are drawn to the idea because they have seen a decline in ridership:

The idea also appeals to moderates in places like Worcester, the state’s second-largest city, which is struggling to persuade residents to use its buses. Ridership has dropped by 23 percent since 2016, and the buses now run half-empty, according to a report released last May by the Worcester Research Bureau, a nonpartisan policy group. At a City Council meeting last week, a parade of citizens lined up to express support for a proposal to make Worcester’s buses free for three years, as a pilot program. Revenue from bus fares is so low, and the cost of collecting them so high, that it could be replaced by an infusion of $2 million to $3 million a year.

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Pros & cons: Making public transportation free

Experts present their pros and cons lists for making public transit free for communities.

2015-07-public-transit-wikimedia-commons-12132019.jpg

Public transit is an important part of many people’s daily lives. Image: epSos.de / CC BY

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0

December 13, 2019. Now that Kansas City has become the first major U.S. city to make all public transportation free , the debate over whether or not this is a viable option for most cities is back in the spotlight. The viewpoints of the following experts are still very much relevant to today’s discussion.

The following question was recently posted on Quora : “What are the arguments against and for making public transportation free?”

Read the diverse opinions from experts below.

Don Johnson, Urban Planner and Economist

There are a couple of economic arguments for making public transportation free (or at least cheaper than it costs to provide:)

  • Cars impose a lot of costs on society that drivers don’t pay for
  • Everyone benefits when people can travel around freely.

The technical term for the first one is “negative externality,” and there are two big ones associated with cars: pollution and congestion. Every time you start your car and get on the road, you put mono-nitrogen oxides, VOCs, ozone, and carbon dioxide in the air, and you make the road more crowded and thus slower. These are real costs, measurable in environmental damage, health care costs, and wasted time, that other people have to pay for .

Economists like efficiency, and efficient economic systems are ones in which people pay for costs directly, because then they can make choices rationally. (I’ll wait for everyone to stop laughing before I continue.) That’s why economists and planners have been fantasizing about congestion pricing for so long - in a well-designed congestion pricing scheme, drivers actually pay more when they choose a congested road. And if there were an additional tax on gas dedicated to relieving air pollution and improving respiratory health (the existing gas tax in the US only pays for roads) that would make drivers pay the cost of pollution and also be economically efficient. But in the absence of those, subsidizing public transit (which gets people to drive less than they otherwise would) is kind of a second best solution.

The technical term for the second argument is “public good.” It’s good for everyone if transportation costs are reduced - workers can get to more jobs, companies can choose from more workers and more suppliers, people can take more spur-of-the moment road trips to outlet malls, etc. Robert J. Kolker will say that making the price zero don’t make it free -- somebody somewhere is paying -- and he’s right, but under some conditions you can probably show that making everyone pay to make transit free for some people actually makes everyone collectively better off. Again Robert will say that’s not fair, but this is not a fairness argument but a collective benefit argument. But in any case our society is not run by economist philosopher kings.

Because economists famously don’t agree on anything I have to point out that there are also economic arguments against making transit free:

  • Free transit is a poor substitute for making drivers pay actual costs of driving
  • Free anything makes people use it too much - in theory, anyway, transit that’s too cheap is just as bad as driving that’s too cheap. Somebody will end up paying for lots of trips that didn’t really need to be made.
  • As noted above, people may feel that it’s not fair that they have to pay for other people’s bus tickets, even if it does make everyone better off. I’m personally not very sympathetic - pretty much every decision society makes is unfair to somebody. Is it fair to me that we spent $62 billion to develop the F-22 fighter plane, when I don’t feel any safer because of it? But I digress.

In summary there is a lot of reasonable thought behind subsidizing public transit (even if not making it absolutely free) and indeed that’s what most cities end up doing.

Andrew Levy

  • We would need more public transport. Buses, planes, trains etc. all harm the environment, just as cars do. If everyone used public transport, more buses would pollute cities. It should also be mentioned that the manufacturing and creation of a public transport system is very energy intensive, drawing largely on coal and fossil fuels for energy. This releases significant carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
  • With the financial crisis, we can’t afford to spend more money on something like this. It would cost too much for the government to pay for running public transport services. With the economic crisis, it needs to spend the money on other more important things.
  • Car sales would drop significantly. If it were free for everyone to get to work, families wouldn’t need two or three cars; just one or even none, depending on their availability to public transport of course. Most families have several cars, and one is used just for someone to get to work each day. This wouldn’t be necessary. It would hurt the car industry and car makers would most likely lose their jobs, and car companies may collapse, which is very bad news.
  • There are many people who would also lose their jobs. People like conductors, parking cops and plenty of other people wouldn’t have their jobs any more, because their services would be no longer required.
  • Some public transport cities are already terrible; this would just increase the strain. Some public transport networks are already crowded and/or unreliable. With increased customers and pressure, these networks wouldn’t manage.
  • If it was free, companies would not be expected to provide top service, because they are not paying customers. Generally when you pay a little bit more, you are paying for a good service. But if you aren’t paying anything, and heaps of people are using the service, you can’t expect top-notch customer service. Generally people look after paying customers more. If it was free, companies could lower their service under the excuse that its customers aren’t paying anything so they should just “get what their given”.
  • Many people dislike public transport and still would not use it. Many people will stick to their cars, and some would even stop using public transport, because with it being free, so many people will use it, it would become a mess and be way too crowded.
  • “Why Free Public Transport is a bad idea?!?”, World Streets Blog
  • Baum, Herbert J. (1973), “Free Public Transport”, Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, January 1973
  • “Myth: Making public transport free will encourage use”, Public Transport Users Association, Australia
  • “Free public transport is not our ticket to ride”, Australia
  • Free public transport would reduce the number of cars on the road. Global warming is a serious issue and if public transport was free, more people would use it, taking cars off the road. 1 train could take 2000 cars off the road. A public transport system with 20 trains could take 40,000 cars off the road. Some people would simply choose to not own cars, further reducing the number of cars on the road. Across dozens of cities in a nation and thousands world-wide, the result of free public transport would be dramatic in cutting vehicle emissions and combating global warming.
  • The government’s job is to provide services. This would be a great service that could be used by everyone. Taxes already pay for health care, schools and roads etc. so why not let taxpayers see the benefits for themselves, in a useful service everyone can use.
  • The environment would greatly benefit. As well as providing services, the government should look out for the environment. No amount of money is too much to protect the environment.
  • We would need more public transport workers. With increased and better public transport, we would need more bus and train drivers, creating jobs. This is great with the global financial crisis. And it work make it easier for people to get to their job - they could just get on a bus.
  • The government would be forced to improve public transport. With more users, bad public transport networks would be improved by the government, to make it worthwhile using. Bad networks would be greatly improved, and the benefits can be used by everyone. Its definitely a worthwhile incentive.
  • A lot of public transport companies are reliable and need more customers. Most public transport organisations offer friendly and reliable service and could do with some more “customers”. They would be happy to take them and it would get cars off the road.
  • Single or zero fare maximizes the efficiency, convenience and attractiveness of public transport systems for both users and operators in inner cities. “The option of a single and potentially free public transport fare zone in the Sydney CBD should be examined as a way of immediately simplifying fare structures, eliminating CBD interchange fare penalties, eliminating other CBD fare anomalies and maximising the efficiency, convenience and attractiveness of CBD public transport systems for both users and operators.” Independent Public Inquiry - Sydney’s Long Term Public Transport Plan, May 2010
  • Heaps of people would be tempted by free transport. If free public transport was offered to everyone, of course they would use it. Yes, some people may stick to their cars, but the majority would think it was a great idea. If you had the choice of paying thousands each year to run a car, or to get on a train every morning for free, what would you choose?
  • A lot of people would already be using it if it didn’t cost so much. For a lot of people, the only reason they don’t catch public transport is because it costs too much. If it was free, they’d definitely start using it.
  • Free Public Transit Blog
  • Møller, Berit and Thoegersen, John (2008), “Breaking Car Use Habits: The Effectiveness of a Free One-Month Travelcard”, Transportation, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 329-345, 2008
  • Thoegersen, John (2009), “Promoting Public Transport as a Subscription Service: Effects of a Free Month Travel Card”, Transport Policy, Vol. 16, 2009
  • “Perspectives on implementation of free public transport - assessments and recommendations from a working group under the Danish Board of Technology”, Summary, English version, November 2006
  • Scottish Socialist Party’s campaign for free public transport, UK
  • Campaign for Free Public Transport, UK
  • Free Public Transport, Finland
  • Transport Vsem, Russia
  • Saltada Popular, Spain
  • Planka.nu, Sweden
  • “At Any Cost? The hidden costs of charging for public transport”, Alex Berthelsen, Planka.nu, Sweden
  • freepublictransports.com, USA
  • Zero-Fare, Canada
  • “Free ride: the future of public transport”, The Age, March 5, 2006, Australia
  • “The case for free public transport”, Green Left, Australia
  • Fare Free, New Zealand
  • “A Case for Free Comfortable Public Transport?”, Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities Center

Prashant Prasad

In my opinion, encouraging public transport is a very good way to reduce pollution and other traffic related problems in any city. But in most of the cases, creating a free public transportation system is not a feasible solution.

The following are what I see as the pros and cons of making public transportation systems free of cost:

  • More users will get attracted to the public transportation system as their mode choice which will reduce number of small and private vehicles on street resulting lesser congestion and lesser emission (good for the environment).
  • Time taken to purchase the travel ticket will be saved.
  • It will be accessible to the economically weaker section of the society also.
  • Will reduce the societal gap between poor and rich in the society as people from all economic status will be able to travel together.
  • This will provide job opportunities to more people as more public transportation vehicles will be required to ply in the Country.
  • Initially managing the crowd in the public transport will be a major challenge in populated countries like India.
  • It will become a burden on the government to maintain the quality and finally to sustain the public transportation system.
  • Many people will not use the public transport as it will be too crowded.
  • Human psychology is that free things are not valued much, so the system may get abused by the public.

However there are countries like Germany where public transportation is free for students and the money for the same is collected as a semester fee. In countries like India the challenge is quite unique. In India we have a huge range of users ranging from a homeless person to a millionaire.

There are two types of users, according to the literature: Choice riders and Captive riders.

  • Choice riders : users who can afford to travel by other private modes of transport
  • Captive riders: users who cannot afford anything other than public transport.

We need to find a balance between their requirements and affordability, keeping in mind that anything we do will need money and money cannot be grown on trees. In order to attract both types of riders towards public transport, we need to keep the fare within an affordable range of the user groups and need to uplift the quality of the service to match the choice riders’ needs.

This can be done by creating segments in the public transportation system:

  • A higher service quality for which the fare will also be a little lighter as the choice riders’ affordability range is higher and
  • A comparatively lower service quality which will sustain itself with a lower fare and also will fit within captive riders’ pocket.

Ways to get funds to improve the service-quality of entire transportation system:

  • The revenue of the higher service quality can support the lower quality to improve and come to the same level.
  • The revenue from the goods transportation system can also contribute in improving the public transportation service-quality.
  • In order to maintain the interest of the choice riders we will need to think of providing some advantages against the higher fare they will pay. Like less crowed in the higher class and little more pleasant condition.

The entire process to improve the quality of public transport and reducing various problems due to vehicles needs to be worked out in detail. This will take a longer time but this should work better than making it completely free for all.

Should Public Transit Be Free? It Depends.

timelapse photo of bus entering tunnel

In an updated episode of the Freakonomics Radio podcast, Brian Taylor , director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies , weighed in on a question being taken up in cities across the country: If public transit is good for the environment, for social mobility and for economic opportunity, should it be free for all riders? “Public transit is very context-specific,” stressed Taylor, a professor of urban planning and public policy at UCLA Luskin. Eliminating transit fares might make more sense in a place like Lubbock, Texas, where most riders are low-income, than in San Francisco, where many peak-hour BART riders have higher incomes than the average driver, he said. “Just saying generally, ‘Make it fare-free for everything, for all types of trips,’ I would not agree with that,” Taylor said. “The question is, do we need to give something valuable away to rich people for free on the argument that we want to help low-income people?”

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The Case for Making Public Transit Free Everywhere

Passengers board a train at Franca railway station in Barcelona Spain

Used to spending hundreds of dollars on public transit every month? Soon, depending on where you live, all those bus, train, and tram journeys could be totally free. Sure, transit operators would earn less revenue. But some are willing to risk the cash to find out whether free fare policies can help reduce car journeys and make cities run more smoothly.

Does it work? So far, the evidence is mixed—but ditching tickets has other benefits, from ensuring equitable access to transport to keeping buses running on time, with costs offset by savings on ticketing systems or fare enforcement.

If it feels strange not to pay, experts draw parallels with public health, libraries, and schools—services that some use more than others, but everyone pays into. “When you remove fares that says to people that you’ve got a right to get around regardless of your means, it’s a public good,” says Jenny Mcarthur, urban infrastructure researcher at University College London. The need for new thinking is acute: Road transport makes up a tenth of global carbon dioxide emissions, with soaring fuel prices also putting a squeeze on already stretched household budgets.

This is why cities and countries around the world have been edging toward free fares. Spain is the latest to join the list, offering free train travel on a selection of routes for a few months to relieve pressure on commuters as the cost-of-living crisis bites. Officials in Germany introduced a 9-euro-a-month travel pass, Ireland slashed fares for the first time in 75 years, and Italy doled out a 60-euro, one-off public transport voucher for lower-income workers. Luxembourg and Estonia ditched fares to get commuters out of cars years ago, which is the same motivation for Austria’s 3-euro-a-day Klimaticket for countrywide transport, launched last year.

Free fares boost ridership, but not necessarily from drivers. In Estonia , free transport was more likely to be used by those who were walking or cycling, a trend repeated elsewhere . That’s a problem, as pedestrians and cyclists create fewer emissions than public transport.

Short trials make it difficult to discern impact. Car use in Copenhagen initially dropped after a one-month trial of a free transport ticket, but people eventually returned to their old habits. But that’s not always true: Initial analysis of German traffic in June, just a few weeks into the 9-euro-a-month tickets, showed fewer cars on the road and faster driving times in most of the cities studied.

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In 2020, Luxembourg became the first country to offer free public transport, but its tickets were already cheap, and it’s a small country—with a population of about 630,000, plenty of cities are larger—that’s famously wealthy . Two years later, traffic remains about the same or worse than before the free fare policy, at least partially because a large number of people who can’t afford to live in Luxembourg commute from across the border.

So while free fares can and do boost public transport use, such policies don’t necessarily get cars off the road. But free transport has benefits beyond the environment. In Spain, free tickets have been introduced to ease the burden of inflation and rising fuel prices rather than to directly target emissions.

Free train tickets might entice drivers to ditch the car when fuel prices are high, traffic is snarled, or when traveling for a holiday. But for low-income people who are unable to afford a car, free transport keeps cash in their pockets—and means some who can’t afford a ticket can catch a ride rather than walk. “It’s common for people to rationalize their trips when public transport is very expensive,” says Mcarthur. “They make one trip to the shops each week and can’t go whenever they please because it adds up too much.”

Local context matters. In Australia, the Tasmanian government made buses free for five weeks to offset cost of living increases. While that project was deemed a success, researchers argue that expanding the policy elsewhere in the country would benefit richer residents, as public transport in Australia is more heavily used by residents of inner cities or central suburbs traveling to central business districts—in other words, people living in expensive neighborhoods commuting to well-paying jobs. The farther away people live from central areas, the more likely they are to rely on cars to travel to dispersed workplaces, the researchers say, and that means free fares benefit wealthier people rather than those on low incomes.

In Spain, the free tickets will overwhelmingly benefit people living in urban areas that can access regional trains, known as Media Distancia, and suburban railways called Cercanías. “85 percent of Cercanías trips are done daily in Madrid and Barcelona,” says Pablo Muñoz Nieto, a campaigner at environmental activist group Confederación de Ecologistas en Acción, adding that regional trains have suffered from lack of investment and many areas don’t have services. “What do you want a free train ticket for if you don’t have a train?”

In the US, the divide between the haves and have-nots often falls along racial lines, meaning free fares could support racial equity. But while that’s true on financial grounds, there’s more to the story. As community organizer Destiny Thomas notes , US transit systems “rely on the criminalization of poverty as a primary source of revenue,” with operators issuing significant fines to those who lack the funds to buy a ticket. In 2019, the city council in Washington, DC, voted to slash fines and remove the risk of jail for fare evaders following evidence that nine in ten court summons for failing to have a ticket were given to African Americans . By removing fares entirely , transit operators avoid the risk of discriminatory enforcement.

Free fares also remove the financial cost of creating ticketing systems and enforcing them. In Boston, an extension of a free fare trial was in part inspired by a $1 billion new ticketing system , Mcarthur says—a serious investment when bus fares bring in only $60 million annually. A single-route bus trial in the city revealed an unexpected benefit: faster boarding time. “That means faster and more reliable journey times, and improved overall service,” Mcarthur says. “If you’re a public transport agency, a lot of money is spent trying to get dwell time down.”

But the rush for free or heavily-discounted tickets can have the opposite effect. In Germany, the first long weekend of the 9-euro-a-month tickets led to overcrowding, service disruptions, and thousands of hours of overtime for staff. In Spain, Muñoz Nieto warns that if train frequencies aren’t increased, services will become overcrowded; plus, making one mode free and not others could pull passengers away from buses or metro services.

Boosting services when cutting fares costs money—which has to come from somewhere. In Spain, the free tickets will be paid for out of a windfall tax on energy companies and banks that the government believes will be worth 7 billion euros over two years. “Subsidizing trains is phenomenally expensive, but it needs to be done if you want to get lots of people in and out of cities for work,” says Paul Chatterton, professor of urban futures at the University of Leeds.

And mass transit systems across the world are already subsidized to some extent by public funds. In France, fares make up as little as 10 percent of public transport budgets. Luxembourg could easily make trains free because a two-hour ticket costs only 2 euros, with fares pulling in just 30 million euros in revenue out of a 1 billion euro budget. But two-thirds of Transport for London’s budget is from fares, meaning the central government would have a bigger gap to make up if it wanted to make all public transit in the capital free.

Transit systems that rely heavily on fares for funding were put under enormous strain during the pandemic, with many networks still struggling as commuters switch to hybrid working. An empty office on a Monday, for example, also means a lot of empty commuter trains. “All the funding models have been predicated on this huge demand for commuter travel, which has been stable for 50 years,” Mcarthur says. “But then the pandemic came along and that model fell apart.”

One alternative to free fares for all is targeted discounts, offering free or cheap passes to students, young people, seniors, and those on benefits, already a common practice. Rather than subsidize transport costs for those who can afford it, free passes could be given to those on lower incomes or in regions where public transport is available but unpopular. Another intermediate step is charging a cheap flat rate, as Germany has done this summer. “People would still value the service, but you also generate some revenue,” Chatterton says.

Free fares might not get everyone out of cars, but will convert some journeys, which benefits everyone in terms of carbon reduction and improving local air quality—and even helps drivers by calming traffic. Free fares won’t pull low-income people out of poverty, but will keep money in their pockets and ensure everyone can travel when they need to. Ditching fares comes at a cost, but there are savings to be had by not investing in expensive ticketing systems and wider logistical and societal benefits.

But setting aside figures about costs and statistics about ridership, there’s another way to look at it: Public transport should be considered a human right , alongside access to health and education. It’s necessary to life in a city, says Mcarthur. “Public transport is an extremely efficient way to get people around,” she says. “Buses and trains are not only efficient for people who use them, but also people who don’t.”

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Essays on Public Transport

In today's world, the choice of public transport as an essay topic is an important and relevant subject for discussion. Public transport plays a crucial role in the daily lives of millions of people around the world, and it is a topic that can be explored from a variety of angles. Whether one is interested in the environmental impact of public transportation, the economic implications of investing in public transit, or the social and cultural aspects of public transport, there are many different essay topics to choose from.

One of the most compelling reasons to choose public transport as an essay topic is the environmental impact of transportation. With the growing concern over climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, public transportation has become an increasingly important issue. Essays on this topic could explore the ways in which public transport can help to reduce air pollution and congestion, as well as the potential for public transportation to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Another important aspect of public transport that is worth exploring in an essay is the economic implications of investing in public transit. Many cities and countries around the world are making significant investments in public transportation infrastructure, and essays on this topic could examine the potential economic benefits of these investments. For example, public transportation can help to stimulate economic growth by making it easier for people to access jobs and businesses, and it can also help to reduce the costs of transportation for individuals and families.

In addition to the environmental and economic aspects of public transport, there are also important social and cultural dimensions to consider. Essays on this topic could explore the ways in which public transportation can help to promote social inclusion and equity, as well as the ways in which public transportation can shape the cultural identity of a city or region. For example, public transportation can provide access to cultural and recreational activities for people who might not otherwise be able to afford or access them, and it can also help to bring people from different backgrounds together in shared public spaces.

When writing an essay on public transportation, it is important to consider the different perspectives and experiences of the people who use public transportation. For example, essays could explore the experiences of people who rely on public transportation as their primary mode of getting around, as well as the experiences of people who might use public transportation less frequently or who have access to other transportation options. By considering the diverse experiences and perspectives of public transportation users, essays on this topic can help to shed light on the ways in which public transportation can impact people's lives in different ways.

In order to write a successful essay on the topic of public transportation, it is important to consider the ways in which public transportation intersects with other important social, economic, and environmental issues. For example, essays could explore the ways in which public transportation can help to address issues of social equity and access to opportunity, as well as the ways in which public transportation can contribute to efforts to reduce air pollution and combat climate change. By considering the ways in which public transportation is connected to these broader issues, essays on this topic can help to highlight the importance of public transportation in addressing some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

The choice of public transportation as an essay topic is an important and relevant subject for discussion. Public transportation plays a crucial role in the daily lives of millions of people around the world, and it is a topic that can be explored from a variety of angles. Whether one is interested in the environmental impact of public transportation, the economic implications of investing in public transit, or the social and cultural aspects of public transport, there are many different essay topics to choose from. By considering the diverse experiences and perspectives of public transportation users, essays on this topic can help to shed light on the ways in which public transportation can impact people's lives in different ways.

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Essay on Public Transportation

Students are often asked to write an essay on Public Transportation in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Public Transportation

Introduction.

Public transportation refers to vehicles like buses and trains, used by the public to travel. It is a shared system, meaning it carries multiple passengers at once.

Public transportation is important because it helps decrease traffic congestion. It also reduces air pollution by lessening the number of cars on the road.

Using public transportation can save money as it’s cheaper than maintaining a car. It also promotes social interaction and provides mobility to those who can’t drive.

In conclusion, public transportation is beneficial for the environment, economy, and society. Therefore, we should consider using it more frequently.

250 Words Essay on Public Transportation

Role in urban mobility.

Public transportation plays a pivotal role in facilitating urban mobility. It reduces congestion by transporting a larger number of people in a single vehicle, compared to private cars. This efficiency aids in reducing travel time, enhancing productivity, and improving the overall quality of life for citizens.

Economic Impact

Public transportation is a significant economic driver. It creates job opportunities, both directly and indirectly, and stimulates local economies by enhancing accessibility to businesses. It also plays a crucial role in reducing the economic burden of transportation for individuals, particularly those from lower-income groups.

Environmental Implications

Public transportation contributes to environmental sustainability by reducing the carbon footprint. It minimizes the number of vehicles on the road, leading to lower emissions and reduced energy consumption. It also aids in mitigating climate change by fostering a transition towards a low-carbon urban transport system.

Social Equity

Public transportation promotes social equity by providing affordable and accessible transportation options to all, irrespective of socio-economic status. It ensures that everyone can access essential services, job opportunities, and social activities, thereby reducing social exclusion.

In conclusion, public transportation is a cornerstone of sustainable urban development. It is instrumental in promoting economic growth, environmental sustainability, and social equity. Therefore, investing in public transportation is not just a matter of urban policy, but a key to achieving sustainable and inclusive cities.

500 Words Essay on Public Transportation

The role of public transportation.

Public transportation serves as the backbone of urban mobility, providing a sustainable alternative to private vehicle use. It mitigates the environmental impact of transport by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Public transit systems like buses, trams, and metros are designed to accommodate large passenger volumes, thereby decreasing the number of vehicles on the road and reducing traffic congestion.

Moreover, public transportation fosters social inclusion. It provides access to employment, education, healthcare, and recreational activities for all segments of the population, including low-income groups, the elderly, and people with disabilities. By offering a reliable and affordable means of travel, public transportation can bridge socio-economic disparities and facilitate social cohesion.

Challenges in Public Transportation

Funding issues are another significant hurdle. Public transportation is often heavily subsidized, relying on government funding to maintain operations. However, budget constraints can limit the capacity for system improvements and expansions.

Lastly, a lack of integrated planning can lead to inefficient transit systems. To maximize efficiency and user convenience, public transportation should be coordinated with other urban services such as housing, land use, and pedestrian infrastructure.

The Future of Public Transportation

Furthermore, the integration of public transportation with other modes of travel, such as bike-sharing and ride-hailing services, can create a seamless and flexible mobility network. This concept, known as Mobility as a Service (MaaS), represents a paradigm shift in urban transport, moving from vehicle ownership to shared mobility.

Sustainability is another key aspect of the future of public transportation. As cities strive to achieve carbon neutrality, electric buses, hydrogen-powered trains, and other forms of green public transit will play a crucial role in reducing transport-related emissions.

Public transportation is more than just a means of getting from one place to another. It is a tool for urban development, social equity, and environmental sustainability. Despite the challenges it faces, with proper planning, sufficient funding, and the integration of advanced technologies, public transportation can continue to serve as a vital component of urban life, shaping our cities for the better.

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Public Transport - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

Public transport refers to transportation facilities that are publicly owned and operated by the government or private companies to cater to the needs of commuters. It includes modes of transportation such as buses, trains, trams, and metros that provide an affordable and efficient way to travel through cities and towns. Public transport is a popular mode of transportation for commuters who want to avoid traffic and save money on transportation costs. It is also an eco-friendly option that reduces traffic congestion and air pollution. Many countries offer subsidies or free fares to encourage people to use public transport, making it an accessible and convenient option for people of all backgrounds.

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  • sustainability
  • economic feasibility
  • infrastructure
  • overcrowding
  • incentivize
  • service quality
  • equitable access
  • fiscal responsibility
  • public subsidy
  • taxpayer burden
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Nowadays, a growing number of people with health problems are trying alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their usual doctor. Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?

Some people regard video games as harmless fun, or even as a useful educational tool. others, however, believe that videos games are having an adverse effect on the people who play them. in your opinion, do the drawbacks of video games outweigh the benefits, without capital punishement our lives are less secure and crime of violence increase.capital punishment is essential to control violence in society, some employers of their employees subsidised membership of gyms and sports clubs, believing that this will make their staf healthier and thus more ef ective at work. other employers see no benefit in doing so. consider the arguments from both aspects of this possible debate, and reach a conclusion., nowadays a growing number of people with health problems are trying alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their usual doctor. do you think this is a positive or a negative development.

Public Transportation Argumentative Essay Example

Public Transportation Argumentative Essay Example

  • Pages: 2 (386 words)
  • Published: January 12, 2018
  • Type: Essay

Compare and Contrast: Public Transportation There are many modes of public transportation that people use every day, all of them have similarities and differences that may set them apart from one another.

Three main forms of public transportation that are used include public buses, subways or metros and taxis. Many people use them to get from home to work or school or to run their daily errands, some may be more efficient than others, but will be more expensive and some may not have as much elbow room or privacy.

When in need of a ride somewhere and there’s no one available to help with a ride one can always turn to public transportation such as the bus. The bus can be very reliable seeing

as how some pass by every 15 to 30 minutes. One set back about the bus is that it makes many stops to let people off and to allow others to board it, not only that but it does have to do the speed limit like all other vehicles making it a bit slower.

The metro and subways are similar to the bus seeing as how they pass by every so often and make stops to let people off and on, but a difference is that they avoid most roads and travel a lot faster than the bus so it will get to a person’s point of interest a lot faster if it is on the route that the train takes as they do not do many turns meaning that the person may have to walk for a while or catch a bus to complete the trip. Of course calling a cab can alway

be a good choice as well seeing as how they will come to where ever the person is to pick them up and get them to where they need to be just the same way that any other car would.

All three forms of transportation have different speeds as well as different prices. The bus allows people to pay the basic fee if they are just using one bus route, a transfer if they are using two routes or passes that differ in price and how long they last. A bus pass can last from one day, to a week, or even up to a month if..

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Argumentative Essay Outline - Public Transport

COMMENTS

  1. Free Public Transport Argumentative Essays

    This paper discusses the free transport system and several related aspects. The logical aspect behind the free public transport is that 50 people need 50 cars to travel but their requirements can be fulfilled by a single bus also, it saves a large amount of fuel and further it helps the environment. If 50 cars are stuck and keep their engines ...

  2. Should Public Transit Be Free? More Cities Say, Why Not?

    Brian Kane, deputy director of the MBTA Advisory Board, which oversees expenditures on Boston's public transit system, said bus fares in Boston brought in $109 million in 2019 and $117 million ...

  3. Essay on the Benefits of Public Transportation

    In summary, public transportation is a vital part of the 21st century and has many clear benefits. Using public transportation instead of driving reduces fuel consumption and pollution, lowers your risk of being in an accident, improves your physical fitness, and reduces stress.

  4. Should public transit be free? Experts weigh in on policy options

    Cities & Communities. Should public transit be free? Experts weigh in at an HKS-hosted debate. by Susan A. Hughes. June 30, 2021. With companies addressing how their employees will return to the office as the pandemic recedes, public transportation is a key part of the policy dialogue. Would free ridership keep autos off the road, a huge ...

  5. Public Transport Should Be Free

    In my opinion I think that public transit should be free because there a lot of people in the world that don't have the money to pay for there gas. Some people even have to bike to work. Some people don't even have a car or a bike. It is even eco friendly because there would be less people on cars which means that there would be less car ...

  6. Should Public Transit Be Free?

    Mayor Marty Walsh of Boston has expressed concern about the potential profit loss, saying that in 2019 bus fares in his city generated $109 million: "There's no such thing as free," Mr. Kane ...

  7. Pros & cons: Making public transportation free

    The technical term for the second argument is "public good." It's good for everyone if transportation costs are reduced - workers can get to more jobs, companies can choose from more workers and more suppliers, people can take more spur-of-the moment road trips to outlet malls, etc. Robert J. Kolker will say that making the price zero don't make it free -- somebody somewhere is paying ...

  8. Many people argue that free public transportation should be ...

    The debate over whether cities should make public transportation free of charge in metropolises has been longstanding,with a majority of people praising the benefits that it will bring to the cities | Band: 7 ... This can also help in making your essay more engaging and dynamic. ... A great argument essay structure may be divided to four ...

  9. Some people believe public transport should be free of ...

    Making public. transport. costless is advantageous for two main reasons. Firstly. , the main benefit is environmental. Indeed, major cities are the biggest contributors to pollution. as a result. of carbon emissions from cars. Decreasing the number of motor vehicles by making public.

  10. Public Transportation Essays (Examples)

    View our collection of public transportation essays. Find inspiration for topics, titles, outlines, & craft impactful public transportation papers. Read our public transportation papers today! ... Clearly state the main argument of the essay: that climate change poses significant threats to human health and well-being. ### Body Paragraph 1 ...

  11. Should Public Transit Be Free? It Depends.

    In an updated episode of the Freakonomics Radio podcast, Brian Taylor, director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, weighed in on a question being taken up in cities across the country: If public transit is good for the environment, for social mobility and for economic opportunity, should it be free for all riders?"Public transit is very context-specific," stressed Taylor, a ...

  12. Essay on Make Public Transport Free

    Public transportation is a critical facet of modern urban living, facilitating mobility and accessibility for all citizens. The idea of making public transport free has been a topic of great debate, with proponents arguing that it would improve social equity, environmental sustainability, and urban livability.

  13. The Case for Making Public Transit Free Everywhere

    In Boston, an extension of a free fare trial was in part inspired by a $1 billion new ticketing system, Mcarthur says—a serious investment when bus fares bring in only $60 million annually. A ...

  14. ≡Essays on Public Transport. Free Examples of Research Paper Topics

    The Key Elements to a Successful Public Transport System. 3 pages / 1482 words. Public transport is an important and necessary aspect of modern day society. It can be defined as transport that is available to the public, that charge set fares, and runs along set routes. For example, buses, trains, light rail, ferries and so on.

  15. Essay on Public Transportation

    500 Words Essay on Public Transportation Introduction. Public transportation is a critical aspect of a city's infrastructure, playing a pivotal role in reducing traffic congestion, promoting sustainable urban development, and enhancing the quality of life for residents. Through its capability to transport large numbers of people efficiently ...

  16. Argumentative Essay On Public Transport System

    Argumentative Essay On Public Transport System. 1697 Words7 Pages. America's infrastructure is notoriously bad. With a D+ rating from the American Society of Civil Engineers, even the highways are crumbling in the land of the car. Its public transportation is falling apart as well - that is, where it exists at all in this country.

  17. Public transport should be free

    idea. Free public. charged for trips, but it suffers from various disadvantages. The following essay will overlook two of these drawbacks that support my disagreement. , and staffs' salaries. For years the government had been viewed as the most responsible party to take care of these.

  18. Public Transport

    Public Transport - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas. Public transport refers to transportation facilities that are publicly owned and operated by the government or private companies to cater to the needs of commuters. It includes modes of transportation such as buses, trains, trams, and metros that provide an affordable and efficient way to ...

  19. Free Essays on Public Transportation

    Public Transportation. Compare and Contrast: Public Transportation There are many modes of public transportation that people use every day, all of them have similarities and differences that may set them apart from one another. Three main forms of public transportation that are used include public buses, subways or metros.... Save Paper; 4 Page; 790 Words ...

  20. Public transport should be free

    In these days this type of treatment is named as alternative medicine. Nowadays, more and more people with some disease decide to use alternative medicines instead of classic medicine. In this essay I will try to discuss pros and cons. It is thought by some people that public transport should be costless. This essay completely agrees with this ...

  21. Argumentative Essay

    ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY.docx - Free download as Word Doc (.doc / .docx), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. The document discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using public transportation in Indonesia. Some key advantages include that public transportation is cheaper than using a private vehicle, helps avoid traffic jams in big cities like Jakarta, and reduces pollution.

  22. Public Transportation Argumentative Essay Example

    The bus allows people to pay the basic fee if they are just using one bus route, a transfer if they are using two routes or passes that differ in price and how long they last. A bus pass can last from one day, to a week, or even up to a month if.. Public Transportation Argumentative Essay Example 🎓 Get access to high-quality and unique 50 ...

  23. Argumentative Essay Outline

    Name: Gurrleen Kaur Monash ID: 34598804 Topic: Public Transport Essay question: Should Public Transport be free? Argumentative Essay Outline Introduction Hook: Can free public transport lead to rise of usage? Background Information: Public transport is a network of different type of transportation services accessible to the public such as buses, trains, and subways.