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19 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,July 11,2019 w aterloochronicle.ca Hover your camera app over this code to see more deals. featuring HOME INONTHE SAVINGS! with Your only destination for more coupons, more flyers, more savings. See these deals and more at SAVE.CA Products displayed are based on a sample of flyers available on Save.ca as of today's date, and are subject to change based on product availability and each user's location. Voluntary Pay Contribution Program We ask you to consider contributing $30 per year towards delivery of your Community Newspaper. Many of our Readers have made the decision to show their support for the Waterloo Chronicle. It is our pleasure to provide the Waterloo area with a Community Newspaper. We Appr eciat e Your Supp ort! Yes! I would like to contribute to the Waterloo ChroniclePlease find a cheque for $30 enclosed for a 1 year contribution. Signature: _________________________________________________________ Name: _____________________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________ City:___________________ Postal Code: ____________________________ Phone #: _______________________________ 475 thomPSoN drive, UNitS 1-4, CAmbridge, oN N1t 2k7 for more iNformAtioN CAll 519-623-7395 ext. 795080 What a ride. In its first 11 days of op- eration, our new light-rail transit system carried al- most 300,000 passengers. It's a phenomenal, ap- plause-worthy achieve- ment that surpassed ini- tial ridership projections. Of course, the service for those 11 days was also free. Which begs the ques- tion, if we can attract this many transit users during a brief period of free fares, shouldn't public transport be fare-free all the time? In fact, it is in some places. Estonia was the first to establish a system of countrywide, free pub- lic transport in 2018, fol- lowing the successful im- plementation of such a sys- tem in its capital, Tallinn, in 2013. Luxembourg will introduce free, nation- wide public transport next March, and there are even examples in Canada, where Calgary and Winni- peg offer free fares on some transit lines. Given the incredible early returns for our light rail system, the idea of keeping it fare-free is at- tractive. It's easy to argue that trips by car would be drastically reduced and our community would be more environmentally friendly as a result. The move, however, would come at substantial cost, requiring a projected municipal tax increase of eight to 10 per cent in or- der to make up for the $40- million lost in the collec- tion of transit fares. That figure also doesn't include the increased costs for system maintenance and upgrades over time. It's this long view that makes Jeff Casello skepti- cal of free-fare public transport. The professor in the University of Water- loo's School of Planning calls Ion light rail a "tre- mendous opportunity" that makes him excited for the future of our region, but he believes that those who consume public goods should be the pri- mary supporters of the consumption of those goods. "Just the same way that we don't make water free when it comes out of our tap, we shouldn't make transportation free," Ca- sello explains. "Those who are able to afford to pay for public transportation cer- tainly should be able to pay to support some part of that system." Casello says creating disincentives for people who are single-occupant automobile drivers would be something that makes him more comfortable with the idea of fare-free public transport. If reducing the number of trips taken by car is a stated goal of fare-free public transport, such dis- incentives would be criti- cal to achieving that goal. Going back to Tallinn, Estonia, we find that the early days of fare-free public transport did virtu- ally nothing to reduce the number of vehicles on the road because most people who switched over to tran- sit had previously been walking or cycling. The first four years, in the meantime, saw just a 20 per cent increase in trips taken by transit. Another important consideration is the cur- rent political climate in Ontario. With a provincial gov- ernment that has reduced funding for municipali- ties, public health and child care are already files in need of municipal at- tention, to name just a couple. While the idea of fare- free public transport sounds appealing on the surface, we don't have to scratch too far below to uncover the work that needs to be done. The time for fare-free public transport may one day come, but that time just isn't now. Kitchener Post col- umnist Mike Farwell is a broadcaster, MC and ad- vocate. Follow him on Twitter @farwell_WR or connect with him via Mike.Farwell@rci.rog- ers.com. OPINION SHOULD OUR PUBLIC TRANSIT BE FARE-FREE? MAYBE, BUT WE'RE FAR FROM READY, WRITES MIKE FARWELL MIKE FARWELL Column SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA