What was old is new again. Plenty of European towns and cities tried schemes like this in the late '60s/early '70s. Most of them eventually floundered under financial pressures. In my UK area, a selected few bus routes are currently free; they are the first item on the chopping block at every spending review, and it takes effort to defend them. Schoolbuses here have just been downsized to save some money.

This is not meant to discount the effort - better public transport helps everyone, even people who don't use it (by reducing congestion). I'm just skeptical that it will last, without a serious acceptance that something else will have to give in the local budget, or taxes will have to go up.