Should public transport be Free?

Z

z104

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I think this would be a huge help reducing gridlock and would pay for itself by reducing gridlock and improving quality of life.

Does anybody disagree or have comments?
 
I think this was discussed before. You might want to look for the previous thread(s) on it.
 
Perhaps it was discussed before but with the Greens now in Government perhaps it should be revisited? This is an area that the Greens could make some improvements in a short enough period of time and it is also an issue that affects everyone.

In specific comments I think we could make progress quicker in Dublin, and other urban centres through

(i) more investment to lower public tranport prices,
(ii) increasing the number of buses,
(iii) open the bus market to competition, present bus regulatory regime is 1932 Road Transport Act
(iv) imrpove quality of bus lanes,
(v) real time information on bus times.
 
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In theory, its a good idea but I wonder what difference it would make in reality. I don't think people refuse to use public transport because of price (at least I don't know anyone). I think they don't use it because it is a pretty poor service in alot of areas. Will making it free improve this??
 
I use public transport every day and the overcrowding is really bad. It would only get worse if it was free and I'd go back to driving.
 
Sunny and Cahir are right, and in considering free public transport certain things would have to be a given such as extra capacity and increased provision of information.
 
I dont use public transport because in my case its not efficient enough. The fact that it could be free wouldnt change that. People use the LUAS because its a wonderful service (more so the sandyford line). If you had 20 LUAS lines for example, everyone would be using it. I dont think its a price issue. Its the poor service that has everyone in their cars.
 
Nothing is free - it is paid for by someones taxes somewhere.

To an extent public transport is "free" already, to o.a.p.'s etc is it not ?
 
Cost of public transport is so cheap nowdays that I dont think its a factor in people not using it. Cost for most tickets is less than €10 per week which is deducted from wages (assuming most regular users have taxsaver tickets). Its as close you can get to being "free" as commuter never actually puts his/her hand in pocket to buy a ticket and the amount deducted at source is so low its not noticeable.

One thing that Dublin Bus should do is ban cash from buses - slows down journey with people fumbling for change etc. Should have vending machines at bus stops for those wanting to buy just a single journey.
 
rabbit said:
Nothing is free - it is paid for by someones taxes somewhere.
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Whats really annoying is that even though public transport is already heavily subsidised from taxes users still have to pay a fare.

Double taxation if you are a taxpayer and a public transport user !

The fare may be relatively small for Dublin Bus users, but fares are not so cheap for commuters on Bus Eireann or rail. (Example; day return Bus fare Trim - Dublin is Euro 12.50)
 
csirl said:
One thing that Dublin Bus should do is ban cash from buses - slows down journey with people fumbling for change etc. Should have vending machines at bus stops for those wanting to buy just a single journey.
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Considering the state of the bus shelters, I can't imagine a vending machine full of cash lasting long !!

redstar said:
Whats really annoying is that even though public transport is already heavily subsidised from taxes users still have to pay a fare.

Double taxation if you are a taxpayer and a public transport user !
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Even worse if you're not a public transport user tho :)
 
csirl said:
Cost of public transport is so cheap nowdays that I dont think its a factor in people not using it. Cost for most tickets is less than €10 per week which is deducted from wages (assuming most regular users have taxsaver tickets). Its as close you can get to being "free" as commuter never actually puts his/her hand in pocket to buy a ticket and the amount deducted at source is so low its not noticeable.

One thing that Dublin Bus should do is ban cash from buses - slows down journey with people fumbling for change etc. Should have vending machines at bus stops for those wanting to buy just a single journey.
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I dont' think its cheap in comparison to Prague where incidentally I spent last weekend. A public transport ticket there costs 26 Crowns which is less than 1 euro and it will provide for seamless use of all public transport services including bus to tram and metro journeys.

About banning cash from buses, another pretty cool thing about the service over there is you can text a sms short code and it will send you a sms ticket. That is what I call convenience and efficiency.
I remember reading that the Czech government had sent a fact finding mission to Ireland a few years ago to try and learn from our economic success. I think we can also definitely learn something from them.
 
stir crazy said:
I dont' think its cheap in comparison to Prague where incidentally I spent last weekend. A public transport ticket there costs 26 Crowns which is less than 1 euro and it will provide for seamless use of all public transport services including bus to tram and metro journeys.
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So what?
It’s probably not cheap in comparison to Tanzania either. Neither the Czech Republic nor Tanzania has our income levels or cost base so comparisons are meaningless.
 
As long as one disgruntled employee can stop the train service for an entire city by holding an unofficial strike because of his perception that an agreement on overtime was not honoured then I would never choose to rely on public transport to get me anywhere important. The man in question should be sacked and the union should support his sacking.
 
Caveat said:
Is this before or after a train drives over his adam's apple (or words to that effect) (Kevin Myers...of course)
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Kevin Myers tongue in cheek remark about how Michael O’ would do things if he ran the show.
I heard that clown Kieran Allen evading the question and making a scurrolous personal attack against Kevin Myers on the Last Word yesterday. If Myers had launched such an attach the left wing media would have jumped all over it (with RTE and the Irish Times leading the charge). The fact that it was made by a loony-left agitator who writes off the wall conspiracy theory books seems to be OK.
 
Purple said:
Kevin Myers tongue in cheek remark about how Michael O’ would do things if he ran the show.
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I know it was tongue in cheek BTW - in case you thought I didn't (note to self - use of smileys often advised) ;)

I heard that clown Kieran Allen evading the question and making a scurrolous personal attack against Kevin Myers on the Last Word yesterday. If Myers had launched such an attach the left wing media would have jumped all over it (with RTE and the Irish Times leading the charge). The fact that it was made by a loony-left agitator who writes off the wall conspiracy theory books seems to be OK.
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Didn't hear all of it but that's how it sounded to me. Pity though, as Allen's supporters will rally round his attack on what was, with hindsight, an ill judged remark by Myers. He should have known this would happen.

As regards public transport being free - I can only assume we'll face utter antipathy in the face of any issues commuters may have "sure it's free what are you complaining about?" etc etc
 
I have made a few trips on Bus Eireann recently and was shocked at the expense.

€20 single from Dublin Airport to Derry. Thats shocking. And not even direct. Stops off at every dump along the way.
 
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