The Buses Should Be Free

The basic bane of the passenger's life is that the bus company just does what it wants and is not responsive to your needs.

Let's imagine a world where bus service is competitive and wildly profitable -- there is going to be a LOT more bus service, bus companies are going to be tripping over each other to add new routes, run more busses because improved frequency and better service means: more money to afford running more busses.

If we just say "there is a pool of $X million a year" then buses are always going to be scarce and there is no incentive for the bus operator to improve in any way whatsoever because they can run the worst service possible and get $X million or run the best service possible and get $X million.

I was first exposed to the "free buses" idea in the 1990s and it has some logic because collecting fares does slow buses down, but transit geeks I respect now are skeptical because the real problem with buses is that there aren't enough routes and they don't run frequently enough: it is not like there is this vast population of people who can't afford to ride the bus, rather there are many people for whom the bus is dead to them because the bus doesn't come where they are or go where they want to go when they want to.

[1] I'm in the unusual situation that I ride the bus almost every day from a rural location and ride for free because I work at a university with a nearly impossible parking situation. It works for me because I work 9-5 and I'm a software developer so if i am 30 minutes late one morning it is not like there are customers who need me right then. The bus service has been close to perfect for the last two months but we've had plenty of times when 30 minutes late in the morning or evening has been absolutely routine.