I would argue making it free and keeping it free would have been a cool move.
- Less/no expensive accounting
- Less/no personnel for checking tickets
- Less/no personnel for prosecuting people who don't have tickets
- Less/no ticket vending machines (and all the maintenance that comes with it)
- Less traffic on the roads since you can't beat "free" and hence less emissions (at least in hamburg trains operate on green energy) and less wear on the roads (might be offset by the wear on trains and busses)
- Fully non-discriminant with respect to income
I have no idea if that would work for inter-city transport but for inner-city transport the HVV for example (the public transportation network responsible for hamburg and surrounding areas) sells 30 million tickets a year and I wonder how much it truly costs them to do that with all the relevant factors mentioned above.
I have no idea if that would work for inter-city transport but for inner-city transport the HVV for example (the public transportation network responsible for hamburg and surrounding areas) sells 30 million tickets a year and I wonder how much it truly costs them to do that with all the relevant factors mentioned above.