• TimeNaan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    It’s not the first city/town in europe that’s done this. Many medium-sized towns in my country have free public transportation. It works very well and means less cars.

    People don’t abuse it, because how would you even abuse something like that?

    • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Because unfortunately, they do.

      In Scotland, multiple local authorities signed up to a scheme to allow young persons to use cards to get free travel. Fantastic idea and one that would be awesome to see spread to all age bands, but the problem was that antisocial behaviour increased in and around transport hubs, largely because of the increased mobility of people.

      It’ll be interesting to see if any lessons learned are integrated into other city planning where these schemes are rolled out.

      • TimeNaan@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        1 year ago

        I think this isn’t really free transport’s fault, this is a problem with youths being antisocial, it has different causes. The free bus just helps to make it more concentrated in certain places, but the solution isnt to make the bus paid but to help the youth find better things to do.

        Also to quote the first article

        Despite its success, First Bus, Scotland’s largest bus operator, confirmed to The Herald it has experienced “a slight increase” in youth disorder on its network of routes since the scheme was launched, although it added that the rise “cannot be directly attributed” to the roll-out of the scheme. 

        • TBi@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          I remember reading about a free bus scheme in London. If you were found being antisocial you lost your free bus pass. So there was an incentive to keep the buses clean.

      • echo64@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s not absuing it, that’s it being successfully used.

        We want young people to use public transport, oh no, the young people are using public transport, the horror.