Why not offer free public transit?

City council is now considering bus service and this is a good opportunity to consider another option: Make them free.

Ridership provides a substantial part of the cost of running the bus system, and city taxes and provincial subsidies provide the rest, but these subsidies are being wasted if they are running empty a large part of the time.

Making bus rides free will increase ridership, reduce the use of automobiles, decrease pollu- tion, decrease traffic and no doubt free up parking spaces....

Rob Gordon Stratford - letter to the Beacon Herald