[Doady]

Transit is going to cheaper than cars no matter what, so reducing or eliminating fares is not going to attract many new riders. The mmount of service, the number of service hours, reducing the distances between routes, reducing the waiting times between buses and trains, that is what attracts most riders. And what determines the amount of service is the amount of funding, and for successful systems, that funding mostly comes from fares.

For example, in Toronto, in 2019, the TTC budget was $1.9 billion, and almost $1.3 billion of that came from fares. $1.3 billion. Imagine how much ridership would be lost if they slashed $1.3 billion worth of service. Do you want a transit system like Toronto, or one like Alexandria, VA?