Submitted by John E. Kraft, Feb 12, 2007 17:28

Yes, ridership was high in 1943 when the fare was only a nickle. But, we also had gasoline rationing which made the use of mass transit a daily imperative. Ridership was also high in my youth,when the fare went to fifteen cents and the token was introduced. But, Bob Moses was in his hey day turning NYC into a "car friendly" place, bringing about "white flight" to the suburbs and gridlock on the streets. Even the road use tax didn't put a dent in that change. I know of only one place (City of Commerce, California) which went to free transit many years ago. Their rationale was based on the fact that we were transporting people for free vertically (elevators and escalators), so we might try transporting them for free horizontally.Of course, the City of Commerce was only four square miles in area.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.