TriMet has already eliminated Fareless Square for buses, and is now set to approve a new budget that will eliminate the Free Rail Zone. At the same time, Portland Streetcar may also end its fareless zone, too.
Terrible mistake. Allow me to demonstrate specifically for the Streetcar.
Basic economics shows that higher prices leads to conservation / decreased consumption.
Every week or so, I have to decide whether or not I want to use the Streetcar to go into downtown, or drive and park. Whenever I have the flexibility to do so, I'll take the Streetcar. But if a ride costs even as little as $1, that argument is tilted towards driving and paying for parking. At about $1, the costs are equal between riding the Streetcar and driving (gas + parking), for short trips (under 40 minutes total). And if I'm going shopping, I can get businesses to validate parking at Smart Park garages, so that I don't pay at all to park.
More likely, I'll just walk. It turns out that when I speed walk, I can keep up with the Streetcar, block for block, during rush hour traffic.
Either way, there's no value in it for me, to pay to ride the Streetcar. And I think most of the people who ride on the Streetcar are in a similar boat and will switch to alternatives. As I ride my short trip, I constantly see people hop on and off before I do. If those people start walking or riding their bicycles rather than paying $2.00 for a short hop, ridership numbers will plummet, and the cost per rider will increase by default.
The same people who were already paying for rides (because they travel outside of the fareless zone) will still be (mostly) the only ones paying for rides.
In short time, people will start complaining about the increased cost per rider subsidy -- a quirk of decreased capacity efficiency -- and it may kill the Streetcar momentum altogether. Eliminating fareless zone may be self-defeating.
1 comment:
that is so lame
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