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Funding public transit is one of the biggest problems facing cities today. Often the trouble is that a few high-cost low-ridership routes drag down an entire system. That puts policymakers in a tough spot. They might eliminate these unprofitable lines, that has been suggested before, but in doing so they would harm a considerate number of people who rely on that service as their primary mode of transportation.(1)____(2)____
Over at New Geography, Steve Lafleur revives the debate and argues that low fares are the part of the reason transit lines are struggling.(3)____ In response , he offers an admittedly "controversial" solution: "Transit should operate on a for profit basis and its prices should closely reflect market forces-if it means that transit fares increase.(4)____
The idea of increasing ridership by raising fares is not with some recent precedent.(5)____ Writing last week at The New York Times Opinionator blog,Lisa Margonelli point to a study from earlier this year comparing transit ridership in Germany and the United States.Over the same period of time. German transit agencies grew ridership while doing something similar in what Lafleur proposes-namely, increasing fares and slashing service.(6)____
More important than fare changes were the limits simultaneously imposed on car travel. While German transit agencies did their best to attract riders to a higher-quality service, the government implemented a number of policies that made driving "less conveniently and more costly".(7)____(8)____ In other words, high fares did lead to greater ridership on German transit, but only when coordinating with harsh automobile policies-not in isolation.(9)____(10)____
