Ramit Sethi argues free buses sound good but backfire. Eliminating fares cuts funding and worsens service. He's ridden San Francisco's 22 line and seen it happen. Better fix: keep fares, add congestion pricing like New York, and actually fund transit properly.
A lot of people know that I'm liberal, but I also don't like dumb liberal ideas, and we need to talk about one of them right now. Have you heard this idea of free buses? It's going around right now. It's happening in New York with Mondani. This is not good policy. Let me tell you why. When I used to live in San Francisco, I took the 22 all the time. I never thought about the price of the bus. That was not my complaint. What I wanted was faster buses. I wish there was a bus running every 4 minutes. And there's actually good data showing this is exactly how most bus riders think about it. They want faster buses so they can predict exactly when they can get to work, and two, they want safer buses. This idea of just giving away free buses sounds deceptively great. Oh, who wouldn't want a free bus ride? But they're actually solving the wrong problem because in order to have faster buses and safer buses, you need funding. And when you cut revenue,, then suddenly you are hundreds of millions of dollars in the hole. And that is exactly what's happened in other cities when they have tried this. So I will always call out bad policy, whether it's liberal or usually it's conservative. And free buses is bad policy. What should we do? Charge for buses, charge congestion pricing like New York has recently done, fund our public infrastructure, and let people see how glorious and amazing good public transportation can truly be. Follow me, Ramit Sethi, to learn more about money and politics.
