I hope not, but only because I want my own Salt Lake City to do it first.
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2019/08/...-fare-transit/
I have no idea about Kansas City's situation, but in Salt Lake City, the amount of money the Utah Transit Authority brings in through fares is *roughly* the same amount of money it takes to
enforce those fares. It is totally crazy. People are being charged simply so that they can make sure other people are charged. It makes me angry.
It is a perception issue - Everyone knows that both roads and transit are built with taxpayer money, but to ride transit requires you to pay
again while driving on a road does not. It doesn't matter that roads get many multiples the money that transit gets, because very few people know how lopsided the funding structure is. All they know is that they are getting double-charged for transit, and who on earth would want that?
I think for many American transit systems, going fare-free is the right decision. Fares are really an anachronistic holdover from when private streetcar companies ran the first iterations of public transit. Now that these systems are publicly-run, it is inconsistent that fares are charged. Public libraries have no fare, neither do public parks, for example.
It has also been shown that improvements to transportation is one of the best ways to lift people out of poverty:
New York Times - "Transportation Emerges as Crucial to Escaping Poverty"
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/u...g-poverty.html
If you have access to free transit, you can take a job anywhere that is served by that transit. You have access to the libraries and park and community centers near transit lines.
I realize my views are extreme, but if I were God-Emperor of all urban planning, I would take all the money from affordable housing projects and use it to make all public transportation free. I realize this would mean that many people would be displaced to 'cheaper' neighborhoods, but in return they would get free mobility to move about the city as they wished. If you have a subsidized apartment, everything around you is still expensive. But if you live where you can afford to and have free transportation into the more expensive parts of the city, I believe you will have a better quality of life.
All of this is based on a few provisions, of course:
1) Good law enforcement. Transit absolutely cannot become filled with vagrants who will scare everyone else away.
2) Good service. Frequent service, early mornings and late nights.
3) A focus on transportation rather than access. The goal should be moving people from A to B, not having bus routes zig-zag between neighborhoods to check off political boxes.
So I wish Kansas City well - just don't take your time or you won't be first!
