Pining for Mussolini

The problem with fare free public transport is the perversity of human nature. If we don’t pay for it, we don’t value it. If we don’t value it, we treat it badly. Complaints will go up, drivers will get abused, and everyone will hate the bus.

All the people who drive to work because the bus doesn’t go from or to anyplace convenient, will still drive, because the buses still wont go from or to anyplace convenient. The biggest uptake will be in former cyclists and pedestrians (tightwads), who weren’t the congestion problem anyway.

All those people who used to beg for $2.00 dollars for the bus will ride the bus for free (It is so for the bus. It totally isn’t for goon), increasing graffiti and drunken loonery. Those folks who are white-trash averse will stay away from buses, because f__k sitting on a bus with 5 drunken mouth breathers.

I don’t mind paying $5 a day. Perhaps that $5.00 can be used in improving the service.

If we eliminate fares, the buses will run much more quickly and cost less to run.

Buses should be like the roads themselves – we don’t pay a fee everytime we use a government-built road. We use it “for free”, and it is maintained by government using money they collect from everybody in other ways.
Public transport should be approached as part of Canberra’s overall transport infrastructure.

Just make the damn things free. It costs a little more, but then we’ll have less congestion on the roads, less hassles with parking, etc. It would be interesting to run a trial to see just how many additional people would get on buses if they could do so for no cost.

Seriously, now that taxpayers are paying 86% of ACTION’s costs, can’t we just pay the extra $18mil (the remaining 14%) and make the buses free? Surely that will increase customer satisfaction and usage, and it’s not that much more for the government to pay.

Don’t worry about boring, day-to-day stuff like this, Alistair – as this infomercial points out, there’s a brave new world about to come into being:

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/canberras-future-ambitious-but-it-can-work-20130929-2umd5.html

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Next week: Coe notices libraries subsidised 100 per cent, says somebody should ‘detail a plan’ but doesn’t have one of his own, proposes book burning in Garema Pl, free black shirts for all.

As with most young wanna be gangsters who would piss their pants if they ever found themselves in South Central LA, Alistair Coe (and his attendant conservative sycophants) would s*** themselves if ever confronted with a real fascist.

These people learn and model their outrage from books. 99% wouldn’t be able to fight their way out of the proverbial wet paper bag; Mummy’s boys the lot of them.

poetix said :

The headline makes me picture Alistair Coe in a black uniform with long black boots…

Damn you!

Funny, but I always imagine Alistair Coe in an ill fitting school uniform, lying face down on the floor while kicking, screaming and crying because he can’t have it all his own way.

Next week: Coe notices libraries subsidised 100 per cent, says somebody should ‘detail a plan’ but doesn’t have one of his own, proposes book burning in Garema Pl, free black shirts for all.

Not sure what Mr Coe is trying to prove here. Surely it is better that buses are a few mins late, than early. I understand (from a driver) that there is a timing buffer built into the scheduling, and that the stats actually show that almost all buses arrive at end destination on time.

The general public reasonably expects public services (such as buses) to be subsidised by government through the taxation process, as they are, in fact, services for the public good.

Certainly the current balance between bus usage and govt expenditure is not great, but this is because of generally patchy coverage/routes (ie some areas are far better served by bus than other areas). Nothing about this balance problem will change while the govt persists in its bizarre rationale (‘supported’ by the limited MyWay stats) which ‘justifies’ why no service=no demand=no service, ad infinitum.

ACTION buses would, of course, be easily improved if the govt decided to target this problem using some of the $600 mil they intend to waste on a daft light rail project that only benefits one favoured sector of Canberra. I suggest they fix weekend timetables for a start: it is unbelievable that we STILL don’t have the promised old weekend timetable restored. It’s been at least five years since this was promised.

poetix said :

The headline makes me picture Alistair Coe in a black uniform with long black boots…

Seek help. Right now. Before it is too late.