> Traffic was moving smoothly. There were hardly any backups. Buses, trains, and ferries ran at full capacity. Those who didn’t use public transit altered their normal routes, and stayed away from The Maze. The predicted gridlock failed to materialize. The “free transit day” was an unqualified success.
Interesting to think about how much economic value could be recovered if we got transit utilization up to those levels on a regular basis. No magic bullets exist, but we collectively spend a lot of money on regular commutes and pay a lot in terms of road upkeep, climate impact, wasted time etc that might be mitigated if we managed to set up incentives like that on an ongoing basis.
Interesting to think about how much economic value could be recovered if we got transit utilization up to those levels on a regular basis. No magic bullets exist, but we collectively spend a lot of money on regular commutes and pay a lot in terms of road upkeep, climate impact, wasted time etc that might be mitigated if we managed to set up incentives like that on an ongoing basis.