All my life I have seen that the more fares are raised the less funding is available. But sure, the next fare increase will be the right one. This is the transit equivalent of: one more lane bro, trust me one more lane

It tells us that we need to rid ourselves of neoliberalism as all those things are under attack. What is common is those defending transit fares showing total incomprehension of how public finance works and especially politics.

And that’s another reason why fares are counterproductive. Instead of program funding the best we can expect are subsidies until we can get enough fares which will never happen. We don’t subsidize the fire service but do transit. Worse we waste time discussing which route generates enough.

It’s the same with fares if you had a billion what to do with it. Except that fares have restrictions on what it could be used for and also we need stable funding. Fares are unstable

You need to raise taxes on the wealthy and it’s important for right wing pols to make us waste time with ineffective transit. Hence we get fares which produces unstable funding which covers a mere fraction of what’s needed

Expect us to keep this remnant of when transit was private? I’m in Ottawa where the city has been cutting funding and raising fares and we know how that ends. We drive. Let’s fund transit an stop pretending we can go back to when it was private

I’m so disappointed to read this. You know cities on purpose do not have financial tools to do anything outside being largely financed by senior govt. You can’t have a transit system without stable funding. In Ontario we always have money for the police which doesn’t rely on fares but you

But now trying to get people to read the awful NY Times that’s horrible.

You cannot credibly claim to be a transit expert and make such a claim when the question of fares and public finances has been studied by parliaments and governments around the world and the result is always that fares slow down service, cause violence against staff.

Believe that this remnant of the time when transit was private is providing needed revenue. It’s not just Ottawa, but Gatineau nearby, the whole Montreal Metro area and so many other cities. We always have money for police but not transit. It’s a political choice. Fares do not pay for service.

I live in Ottawa, Canada and we have amongst the highest fares in the country. Yet our service is terrible, unreliable. Security? Those who cause issues typically paid their fares or were given a pass by various orgs. There’s no farebox at the library or the police car but somehow you expect us to

I stopped reading the NY Times years ago because they have been supporting causes inimical to democracy amongst many issues. But now I’m wondering if I should. Because your indefensible stance on fares is wrong. Fares do not pay for service but reduce subsidies.

Secretary of State Rubio - child of immigrants from Cuba who came to the US in 1956, says migration disturbed “continuity of our culture and of our people”