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Here’s why some people still evade public transport fares – even when they’re 50 cents (theconversation.com)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

48 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Neither lowering fares or simply increasing enforcement can solve fare evasion alone. Investing in better services and winning public trust are just as important.

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[–] WhatAmLemmy 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm no expert on this topic, but I've previously read that when a thing is made free people stop valuing it.

This sounds like a misunderstanding of economics. If someone gives away something for free, they're only saying the thing has no value to them, etc, or — in the context of gov services — the act of giving it away has more value. It's never that the thing itself has no intrinsic value, "period".

You could definitely argue that the 50c fee prevents homeless people from squatting, or completely unnecessary travel, but I would argue that everyone should be provided with shelter, and 50c probably isn't going to prevent unnecessary travel anyway.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

This sounds like a misunderstanding of economics.

I'd give this more weight if other commenters hadn't already helpfully cited studies in this very thread on the topic at hand. The story from Miami in particular was very telling. I also liked the European method where they made fares themselves free, but still enforced people using their smart tickets to record journeys.

Making people pay a token amount isn't about preventing unnecessary travel. It's about keeping everyone with a little 'skin in the game', where they feel they are paying for a service. Even if the amount itself is negligible. It also provides data where journey projections and trends are revealed.