I really like the idea of children riding for free. It really can help families' mobility and affordability. But I do worry, to your point, that vastly reducing or eliminating fares, which essentially depletes revenue, just makes it easy for authorities to cut service or otherwise reduce investment. In North America, transit is unfortunately perceived as a budget item, not an essential service, and whose future is often dictated by people who do not regularly use it (or even seemingly understand it).
I think that context is incredibly important. I was recently discussing just this with a friend and the unfortunate reality of transit in North America is that even among progressives its rarely peoples main way of getting around, so the ideas about fares *feel* like much more impactful and useful policy than they are.
I really like the idea of children riding for free. It really can help families' mobility and affordability. But I do worry, to your point, that vastly reducing or eliminating fares, which essentially depletes revenue, just makes it easy for authorities to cut service or otherwise reduce investment. In North America, transit is unfortunately perceived as a budget item, not an essential service, and whose future is often dictated by people who do not regularly use it (or even seemingly understand it).
I think that context is incredibly important. I was recently discussing just this with a friend and the unfortunate reality of transit in North America is that even among progressives its rarely peoples main way of getting around, so the ideas about fares *feel* like much more impactful and useful policy than they are.