Archive Report
Archive Report
Proposals to Eliminate Commuter Fares
No-Fare Plan for Reducing Congestion Pollution
There is general agreement that the country's urban mass-transit systems are in deep trouble. Fares increase, passengers turn to the automobile, deficits rise and service deteriorates. This pattern is recognizable in almost every sizable city in the United States. In an effort to break this cycle of cause and effect—and to relieve resulting traffic congestion and pollution—there are civic officials and transit experts who suggest free transit. Riders could board buses or subways without paying a cent.
Robert Abrams, president of New York's Borough of the Bronx, is an advocate of this view. “Mass transit should be provided without a direct charge to the user, just like other municipal services—fire, police or sanitation,” he has said. ...