And then with continued decrease in state and federal funding the transit system eventually bankrupts and then no one gets to ride for free or otherwise. “Free” public transit assumes the state or federal government is fitting the bill for the whole affair. But they don’t and will continue to do less and less. Free ridership is a panacea not built on reality. If you eventually bankrupt the system and it offers far less or no service then the ones that get hurt are the poor suckers who paid their fair share all along even when it hurt. Free ridership because you can’t or won fix the problem is the wrong motivation for free ridership. It’s giving up and ceding the system to criminals and jerks. Then you have The Warriors.