listen_youse t1_j6o48mi wrote on January 31, 2023 at 6:31 PM

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Thoughts on the viability of zero-fare transit in RI? by SillySycamore

Would you be willing to pay for park and ride if the bus saved time by by-passing traffic or you could drive to an even faster train?

Suburban park and ride service is longer than most other trips. It is easy to collect fares without delaying the bus. If their destination is not right downtown, people will use park and ride only if the final leg is a short wait for efficient in-town service at no extra fare. Also, I think infrequency and the risk of being stuck in town after the last bus keeps people away from park and ride more than would paying a fare comparable to in-town parking.

[deleted] t1_j6o4k7f wrote on January 31, 2023 at 6:33 PM

Depends on how reliable the bus is, how frequent it is, how early and late it runs, how secure the parking is, and how much the charges are.

In my experience, most US transit fails on several of these fronts. Some systems fail on every single one of them!

A reliable and usable system should be priority number one. I’ll pay to get one.

Making it free helps with uptake but won’t help if we don’t have a system that’s fit for purpose IMO

listen_youse t1_j6oen1a wrote on January 31, 2023 at 7:35 PM

I use the R line a bit more than I would if I had to pay each time. I really notice the time saved when people can just get on. Most importantly, the service is almost pretty damn good.

If there is a choice between great service at affordable cost or crappy free service, most people would rather pay. (edit: getting to work consistently on time can matter even more when you do not have a lot of money)

I think an honor system for payment would lose less $ to fare evaders than it would save in collection related expenses. That crappy app is going to have be patched and updated forever. Better to pay drivers than coders. If the service is good, all but very few people who can truly afford to pay will pony up.