Public

Public transport could be made free of charge. Are there more advantages or disadvantages to this change?

In many countries around the world there is considerable debate about the role of public transport. One suggestion that is commonly put forward is that it should be made free of charge. My belief is that while this policy might be difficult to implement in practice, there are at least two strong reasons for considering it.
The one significant problem with making public transport free of charge is financial.
Councils and local governments need sufficient revenue not only to pay bus drivers and other ancillary staff, but also to maintain the transport infrastructure. There is a real danger that allowing people to travel for free would deprive transport authorities of much needed funds and lead to a lower standard of service.
This financial difficulty in free public transport is counterbalanced by a potential benefit to the environment. The fact that so many people use cars nowadays means that our cities are suffer from rising levels of pollution from car exhaust emissions. One way to address this problem would be to encourage more people to use buses and trains by abolishing fares. If more commuters chose to travel to work on public transport, our cities would almost certainly be cleaner places to live in.
Another way in which free public transport could improve our quality of life relates to congestion. Currently, the trend is for increasing numbers of people to choose to drive to work. This means that in many cases the rush hour is several hours long and it is sometimes almost impossible to travel across a city. It is probable that this level of congestion would be reduced by making public transport free.
My conclusion is then that there are more advantages than disadvantages to free public transport, but this policy may be financially impossible to implement.