#Freepublictransit is your town's best investment

Free transit passes in @DTColumbus funded by @MORPC provided 1.6 million rides for 15,100 people since June 2018.

Imagine if @NOACA_MPO, @DowntownCLE, @inthecircle, @CleveFoundation invested in #freetransit instead of Hyperloop.@ParadoxPrize @uGOcirclehttps://t.co/pqdrb0KpbX

— Clevelanders for Public Transit (@CLEforTransit) December 20, 2019

Fare-free roads are taken for granted, what about public transit?

"If an alien landed from outer space, they would say what a minute, you’re charging the poorest members of society $1.75 each way to use your transit system, but everyone else just gets to drive for free wherever they want, whenever they want? It absolutely makes no sense."

— Clevelanders for Public Transit (@CLEforTransit) December 5, 2019

Candidate for Dayton City Commission David Esrati is proposing fare free public transit

The reality is, the taxpayers are already paying for RTA through the sales tax, and from Federal dollars, and the amount of money RTA collects through fares is negligible. Once you eliminate the costs of collecting fares- from the administration of tickets and passes and transfers, to the accounting and control functions of the funds, and then figure in fuel costs and time wasted while waiting to collect the fares- the amount of real revenue is almost none. By returning ad sales to the outsides and insides of buses, RTA could more than make up for the lost revenue and the increases in ridership would be even more desirable to advertisers.

https://esrati.com/esrati-proposes-free-public-transit/17386 

"Free Public Transit Pays for Itself" -- #ThisIsCLE @CLERisingSummit

FREE Public Transit already has a meeting with @GCRTA

At @CLERisingSummit’s #CLErising https://t.co/hysUM6icKz#ThisIsCLE — improving #Cleveland pic.twitter.com/01CxwhOUuj

— Stuart O. Smith, Jr. - sosAssociates.com (@sos_jr) October 31, 2019

Many people in Columbus, Ohio, see the benefits #freetransit would bring

“Ninety-five percent (of residents) don’t know what the inside of a bus looks like,” he said, and more people on the bus would mean fewer cars on the road.
“You can make an argument that it helps everybody,” Weiler said. “If we become the first major city in America (to offer free bus service), that will really put us on the map.”
Weiler said the move would benefit a broad section of the community, and employers would benefit, too, because some are having trouble keeping workers who struggle with transportation.
“I’ve had a ton of emails and phone calls: ‘What can I do to make it happen?’” Weiler said.
“There are a large number of people who want to help.”

https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190329/despite-resistance-developer-continues-campaign-for-free-cota-bus-service