Question

Should public transit be free? Write an essay between 100 and 250 words max. It requires a quotation, a paraphrase and a proper APA reference page.

Answer 1

The first thing to remember is that there's no situation where a big network of public transportation can pay for itself. But not near. The next in the united states is the New York City Subway, which accounts for about three-fourths of the current running costs of the network. Also, this number is called the "farebox recovery" rate. It doesn't even start considering the cost of building the infrastructure or fixing problems when something goes wrong, and again, that's the best thing it gets. For other regions, government subsidies pay as much as 89 per cent of running costs.

Not only does public transportation offer equal benefits to society, but these benefits are fiscally observable. Public transport – and its extension – result in agglomeration, a increase in the number of people living and working in the city. Agglomeration is a key component of economic growth in an region, both because more people are required to take and build jobs, and because the resulting increase in creative collisions leads to more innovation. Simply put, the more people you can easily cram into a given area, the more that area can experience economic development, the more that area is equivalent to everything else.

Busses, trains etc. are all detrimental to the atmosphere, much as vehicles are. When everybody used public transport, the streets will be crowded by more buses. This should also be remembered that the manufacture and construction of a public transport network is very energy-intensive, relying on energy primarily from coal and fossil fuels. That releases large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
We can't afford to waste more money on anything like this, with the financial crisis. It'd cost the government too much to pay for running public transport services. It needs to focus the capital on other, more important items with the economic crisis.

Reference- Guidebook on Implementing Public private partnerships for Transportation infrastructure