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Just like public health care and public schools, I believe that free transit is a public good because we would live in a better world if everyone was healthy, educated and able to get around.
We collectively fund public health care because we see it as an important public good, but we fail to provide the means for low-income people to be able to afford to take the bus to the doctor. Many minimum-wage workers scrape together $78 every month to be able to afford to take transit to work. Meanwhile, most income assistance recipients looking to re-enter the workforce are denied funding for transit to get out and find a job or go back to school.
I believe that, as a society, it is our collective responsibility to provide people with the means to realize their full potential. So that’s why I think it’s time for our city to step up to the plate and provide free transit for all residents of Halifax.
In fact, we already have free transit. The recent implementation of the Halifax Harbour bridge shuttle, in response to the Macdonald Bridge closures, has been providing free transit across the harbour for thousands of pedestrians and cyclists. Seniors ride for free on Tuesdays, university students ride for a reduced rate throughout the school year with a U-pass, and everyone rode for free in March 2012 after the Halifax transit strike.
What’s more, the city of Halifax can afford to provide free public transit. Eliminating bus fares from all transit would only cost $35 million dollars, or just three percent of the total operating budget. This amount pales in comparison to the $55-million price tag that the city has already committed to the new convention centre.
Put in this light, the question of free public transit becomes not about finances, but about political will. Do we fund development that lines the pockets of big developers, or we do promote economic policies that puts money directly back in the hands of working people?
Free transit is a form of economic stimulus because it puts money directly back into the local economy. Low-income and working people have unmet financial needs, and that $78 a month which would have otherwise been spent on transit will instead be spent on food, rent, utilities and other basic necessities of life.
Imagine how great it would be if the ferry was free. Free public transit across the harbour would mean that more summertime tourists would visit downtown Dartmouth, and that suburban commuters would have free and environmentally sustainable transportation to work every day. Free transit would mean that unemployed people will be able to go out and look for work and that people with disabilities will be able to more actively take part in social and economic life.
The Canadians cities of St. Joseph-du-Lac, Winnipeg and Calgary all already have some form of free transit, and Moncton is currently looking at implementing a similar policy. Now it’s our turn.
Free transit is good for working people and free transit is good for Halifax.
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Voice of the City is a platform for any and all Halifax individuals to share their diverse opinions and writings. The Coast does not necessarily endorse the views of those published. Our editors reserve the right to alter submissions for clarity, length and style. Want to appear in this section? Submissions can be sent to voice@thecoast.ca.
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This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 2016.
Why does he look like a fucking hipster D:
I’m all for ending poverty, but can you Social Marxist’s please leave society’s suffering alone. we Don’t need any more uneducated SJW’s. Please just leave them alone!
“In fact, we already have free transit. The recent implementation of the Halifax Harbour bridge shuttle…” Gabriel: that isn’t free… those who pay tolls on the bridge pay for that. Based on that statement alone, I would question your knowledge of economics, let alone your ability to manage finances.
These voice of the city pieces are terrible every single week.
I hope more councillors will join in his fight to get free public transit for the people of HRM. It is sound economics that people must be able to move around freely in order to get employment. If you are low-income or unemployed then struggling with the cost of the bus pass is a huge hindrance in joining and staying in the work force.
I’d support free public transit just for the benefit to low-income and unemployed folks for which it is a necessity. But for those only interested in policy that affects their day to day -there are benefits for everyone in Halifax. The Economist mentioned that if buses were free there would be less traffic congestion because of the time wasted idilling by the road waiting for commuters to board and pay. I am sure free buses would also encourage the use of public transit over cars and in a city like Halifax without designated bus lanes that would do wonders for traffic.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2013/06/fares
Brilliant plan, Claude.
Now, tell us again how you and Caitlin are going to bring the War Machine to its knees with just a couple of tins of spray paint and some well chosen Parachute Club lyrics.
Claude may think he wants free transit until he has to start using it with people who use it because its free.
And Maya told me to tell you that Caitlin wants her sweater back.
Calgary and Winnipeg don’t have “free” transit, they have brief free stretches on downtown routes.
Calgary’s especially is mostly useless, spanning so short a distance that it’s usually faster to walk to your destination than use the service. The rest of the city is served by a mostly mediocre transit system that’s pricier than ours.
This is a program of a socialist government. Unfortunately people have a stigma against socialism because it is wrongly compared to communism. I am a supporter of socialism, it’s a great idea that needs to be implemented.
Without a socialist government this program would never fly. Metro transit is a business. Supplemented by the government. The whole system would have to be bought by the city and taxes would need to be raised to cover the cost. I’m all for raising taxes for social programs, but Iknow most of the people of Canada don’t have that kind of foresight.
Seriously? We should reward businesses, that choose to pay their employees an unlivable wage, by giving their underpaid employees a free ride to work, why? Pathetic! Why not give “free” transit to seniors and the disabled, and force employers to pay for a bus pass on top of an employee’s salary if they make less than 15.00/h? And no, I don’t give a shit how some lazy welfare case gets her 6 fat kids to the fucking doctor, she can wheez her way there using her own two feet, cause she ain’t got shit all else to do!
I’d rather vote for Gloria again than this dude.
Ban automobiles; including buses on the Halifax core if you want people to be healthy.
Free buses will drain taxes we don’t have; and make these fat losers even more lazy.
This is absurd. It would absolutely be amazing if transit was free in most cities. But. Surprise. It is not.
Transit in Halifax does not have the population nor the financial backup or interest to subsidise this very necessary component of urban life. Toronto; the 4th largest city in North America cannot even afford it’s own transit system…..so with the model that Halifax is using; how is it even sustainable?
With population and demand in specific routes; it seems to me that the only way that this system can be sustainable is by running peak hour routes; targeting major areas etc. Unfortunately, this city does not have the tax dollars to finance a sophisticated transit system. I hope that someday it will; but remain skeptical.
I would think that actually making transit a necessity in any city that is vast and sprawling would warranty free transit. Halifax is by contrast small; walkable and compact; which is one of it’s major perks.
Perhaps energies may be better spent encouraging or rallying government to subsidise people in a low income / government assistance situation with free transit.
Most social workers will provide a bus pass if you are on assistance and it is a necessity. E.g. Frequent Doctors appointments, meetings, court dates. There is specific funding for it. 🙂
I think free toilet paper and tampons would have greater upside.
Sorry I worked hard to get where I am, and am taxed enough. Move to Denmark with your socialist bs.
http://citiscope.org/story/2014/free-public-transit-tallinn-hit-riders-yields-unexpected-results