Ideal Bite

I got a bike a couple months ago, and I've been riding it to work probably like three-quarters of the time. I kept buying my transit pass, because it was still pretty convenient to have, and I can buy it pre-tax, so it's not too pricey.

But SF just raised the prices again, so I'm gonna cancel it for the next round and just ride my bike every day. So instead of getting $45 from me a month, they get zero.

I'm sure this is just a function of my noneconomist, non-cityplanner brain, but why do cities make public transit so expensive? I get that it's expensive to operate, but it seems like if they just made it free, more people would use it, equalling fewer drivers, and money saved on road repair, health care, paying ticket sellers and fare enforcers, etc.

But the more expensive they make it, the more attractive driving/biking/walking/whatever becomes as an option, so less people take it, revenues drop, prices rise, rinse and repeat. All the while, we're wrecking the environment and making ourselves sicker...which costs more money.

I'm guessing it's because those changes would affect more than just one city agency, and since the budgets aren't set to think about the city as an entire organism, everyone gets shafted. How do we get out of this pattern?

-Senior Editor Mike...off to pump up his tires...