So Kansas City decided yesterday that their streetcar service will be free. No fare, that’s right. This might be great in many ways, but as stated in the article.

But authority members agreed the streetcar operator will have to make sure rowdy teens, vagrants and loiterers don’t take abuse the free fare and ruin the ride.

Really? Ugh, this is so frustrating for a number of reasons. We subsidize over-utilization of about every transportation mode in America (except maybe cruise ships, maybe?). Every mode is heavily subsidized which just encourages people to abuse the systems, infrastructure and in the end, pollute more. Even transit pollutes, and encouraging over usage of it and not incurring the full price (or damage) of over-utilization means we just get more of the same. I’m glad they’re getting a streetcar and encouraging people to get out of their cars and use the downtown – which they should – but blast it if we don’t keep going down the same debt burdened, tax dependent systems we’ve been stuck with for the last 80 years with airlines, automobiles and every other transit mode. In the end, this doesn’t help out nation become more responsible or intelligent about its actions or usage of energy.

Charge a fare, at least an extreme minimum. Fifty cents, a buck, either will work!