I know some places are more progressive in this regard. But from the U.S., I’d like to see every person entitled to:
- shelter
- food
- healthcare
- education and higher education
(As an aside, not sure “right” is the best term here, I think of these more as commitments that society would make because we have abundance. One advantage of the word “right” is that a person is justified in expecting it - it’s not welfare/ a benefit / a privilege)
Public transportation should be free for everyone on top of that. We need to do everything possible to discourage driving in favour of public transport for the sake of the environment and our future selves, plus the bus driver would no longer be able to turn away poor people on hot days.
I’ve heard that in Sweden there’s a group supporting free public transport called Planka.nu, which encourages fare dodging and operates an insurance fund for paying penalty fares.
I wouldn’t encourage fare dodging at this point in North America because that would be the destruction of the transit systems.
I think rather it should be free if you are poor, like food stamps. The bus fare definitely stings but I’m always happy to pay it knowing it is going to maintain the system. This is even more important in this hypothetical situation if you have tons of projects towards improving public transportation going on.
Also great username. :)
The reason I think it should be free for everyone is to incentivize choosing public transit over personal vehicles and would gladly pay more taxes to make public transportation free. You have no choice but to pay the tax, so you might as well use the system you’ve already paid to improve.
And thank you 😊