Free public transport?

breffni666

Watched an interesting programme the other night about sustainable public transport and other options to the car, although the car in whichever form it takes seems to be the public choice for transportation. More use of buses and trams was considered
What if all public transport except for taxis were free? I live deep in the stix and would need at least two busess to get to Dublin City centre and if i worked in say Clondalkin would need another bus to get me there which would cost in the region of at least €90 per week which would be unsustainable as having to travel that far in the first place would mean a 6am start and not home till 8pm at the earliest. Plus I would probably need a taxi for the final part of the journey. If this was free transport then the job would deffo be an option. This would also encourage more companies to set up in the city thus encouraging more people to use public transport. The taxis would obviously have to charge but make them reduce fares as they would get more customers as more people coming into the city.

The same for recreation. Normally it would never be an option for me to take my family into the city for recreation as the cost of public transport or parking would eat into the limited funding I would have for same. If the transport were free then it would, again, be a serious option. More people would then use the city centre for recreation as the costs involved would be minimum in getting there. More people= more spending= more money to the exchequer= more subsidy for free public transport.
What do people think of this idea?

djpbarry

breffni666 wrote: »

I live deep in the stix...

Can I ask where exactly? I just want to get a handle on the commute distance you're talking about.

breffni666

Cavan/Monaghan between N2 and N3

djpbarry

breffni666 wrote: »

Cavan/Monaghan between N2 and N3

Commuting from there to Clondalkin seems a bit mad, no?

breffni666

You go where the work is. Clondalkin no different to any part of west Dublin. Im just using it as an example. If there were free public transport other than taxis then it would be feasible to make this trip, otherwise too expensive.

silverharp

commuting costs money and lots of resources , any policy in this area should be judged on whether it increases commuting hence cost. "free" public transport would not help the economy and given that most people have an opportunity cost wrt to money "the economy" doesnt care whether someone spends their money in Dublin or in Navan

eth0

Its a fecking brilliant idea. With tax increases over the last few years and our under-utilised railway network really the free travel scheme should apply to everyone. So many people needlessly driving around the place because our public transport is overpriced

djpbarry

breffni666 wrote: »

You go where the work is. Clondalkin no different to any part of west Dublin. Im just using it as an example.

Fair enough, but it's a pretty extreme example.

eth0 wrote: »

Its a fecking brilliant idea. With tax increases over the last few years and our under-utilised railway network really the free travel scheme should apply to everyone. So many people needlessly driving around the place because our public transport is overpriced

I don't think public transport in Ireland is all that expensive, certainly relative to the UK. Nor am I convinced that free public transport will get a large number of people out of their cars - I'd be pretty sure (although I've not done the sums) that as things stand, using public transport works out considerably cheaper than owning/using a car for commuting, particularly when tax-saver tickets are factored in. But, many people still choose to drive.

dardhal

djpbarry wrote: »

Fair enough, but it's a pretty extreme example.
I don't think public transport in Ireland is all that expensive, certainly relative to the UK. Nor am I convinced that free public transport will get a large number of people out of their cars - I'd be pretty sure (although I've not done the sums) that as things stand, using public transport works out considerably cheaper than owning/using a car for commuting, particularly when tax-saver tickets are factored in. But, many people still choose to drive.

And that's because most of the times, public transportation is not convenient or fast enough at all. Most of the people won't use public transportation even if it's free, if their commute to work is longer than they can accept. Densely populated areas makes things even worse for public transport. It's much more difficult to give adequate service to a town full of detached houses than to a town with equal population but more compact.

The problem is, people preferences aside, housing prices during the last years have been so high that a lot of people were only capable of getting a certain amount as a loan, and that amount only allowed them to live well outside of the city (or they decided to go out of the city for quality of living). But what they saved initially in housing price and loan interests, they are spending maybe more due to their daily commute, either using their private vehicle or using public transportation. If one takes into account all costs of living (and this includes commuting costs in money, and in time), what a lot of people have done is paying a much higher mortgage for their out of the city house, but instead of paying the full amount to the bank, they are paying the public transport companies, or the car / oil / insurance industry.

It's a very complex problem to tackle, specially if people like to live in detached houses that, by definition, are harder to find (and more expensive to buy) than living in apartment building or some other more densely populated dwellings.

monument

breffni666 wrote: »

You go where the work is. Clondalkin no different to any part of west Dublin. Im just using it as an example. If there were free public transport other than taxis then it would be feasible to make this trip, otherwise too expensive.

Exactly. You go where the work is. You choice which way you go -- Move or have a long commute. The negatives of the government supporting long-distance transport are far high than any positives.

The cost would be huge, and supporting people to travel long distances has a negative environmental impact.

eth0 wrote: »

Its a fecking brilliant idea. With tax increases over the last few years and our under-utilised railway network really the free travel scheme should apply to everyone. So many people needlessly driving around the place because our public transport is overpriced

The railway network in Dublin is nearly at peak.

Government support of public transport running costs has and is due to contuine to decrease.

There's no way the current free travel scheme will apply to everybody, there's no good reasons why it should and it should be restricted at rush hours as it used to be to reduce peak demand and overcrowding.