this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2026
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Fuck Cars

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A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

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[–] untorquer@quokk.au 17 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I would say free for everyone, but short of that I'm a fan of free for residents of the greater metro region via card/app. Then your tourists can be charged to subsidize the residents assuming local politics aren't completely corrupt.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 6 days ago (2 children)

this relies on having enough tourists that it's worth the infrastructure for having fares, otherwise it'll just cost more than it brings in.

[–] untorquer@quokk.au 3 points 6 days ago

Like i said, i prefer free for everyone which would make more sense in low-tourism locals.

[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 3 points 6 days ago

Check out the municipal finances of lots of US cities. Auto infrastructure costs more than the taxes it generates from economic activity. The federal government fills a lot of funding gaps through grants with its deficit spending. Yes, free public transport would cost more than it brings in through direct revenues; it would still cost less than private car subsidies, and could be a net positive in economic activity stimulated, unlike the cars.

[–] MintyFresh@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If it's free for everyone you've gotta step up enforcement of civility rules. Otherwise it just turns into a crackhead dacha. If people don't feel safe riding it's defeated it's purpose. Needs to be clean and safe.

[–] untorquer@quokk.au 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Whether it's free or not doesn't impact that issue.

People have to travel, and if you're referring to poor and/or unhoused folk. They can't walk across city any easier than you can. When you're in that situation you have to travel a lot to maintain access to government services. They're going to use the cheapest transit either way.

[–] MintyFresh@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Except they're not using it for transportation. It's just a place to be and do drugs. When I was living in a city a bit further south, the trains were out of control. People smoking and selling their drugs right at the station, sometimes on the train. Every woman I knew was scared to ride. The stations and trains were just filthy.

Once they started enforcing fares again it got so much better.

[–] untorquer@quokk.au 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I've lived in cities with free transit without those problems. They just also had strong social welfare systems.

It's not a problem inherent to free transit, it's a result of failures in governance.

[–] MintyFresh@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Right. And what I'm saying is the public transportation departments can't carry that burden.

[–] untorquer@quokk.au 1 points 5 days ago

Neither am I 😊