Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so did the air

Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by eru on Monday November 24, 2025 @02:22AM (#46031267)

> I suspect people want fare enforcement basically because it helps keeps the aggressive/crazy/assholes off. Not because they want to collect more money.

Well, it's also a matter of fairness: I'm a law-abiding citizen, and I pay for my bus fare. It's the Right Think to do. But if I'm paying, I want the other guys to pay as well.

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Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by x0x0 on Monday November 24, 2025 @11:24AM (#46035801)

I get that; the cost of enforcement makes that likely negative (possibly even very negative) to the system.

My claim is letting trash act like, well, trash and street people wild out on the system drives lots of commuters off. And ime, the worst riders are disproportionally fare thieves.

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Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by eru on Monday November 24, 2025 @07:59PM (#46041217)

> I get that; the cost of enforcement makes that likely negative (possibly even very negative) to the system.

Depends on prevailing social norms, I guess?

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Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by x0x0 on Monday November 24, 2025 @09:23PM (#46041741)

Oh it certainly does. America has let the requirements for behavior in our larger cities decay to openly allowing criminal behavior. It's wild.

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