Do you agree that all citizens should pay for the public transport fares?
By magic9
@magic9 (980)
China
November 4, 2009 8:02pm CST
Do you think it reasonable for everyone living in the city to pay for the public transport fares like buses, subways?
In my city, this proportion of wealth has been too high considering the average personal income. I am from Shenyang City, China. Our local government annouce that the average monthly income is 2975 ?,that is around 400 USD, but actually for the general public, the average income is around 1800 to 2000 RBM, that is less than 300 $. Per ride for the bus is 1.00? one way, so for most people, even using a travel card, they still spend 70? at least on buses, which can be clearly seen accounts for 1/30 or so. The proportation is already too high for the average working people.
To make things worse, children are normally not exmept from this. Kids less than 1.20m needn't buy tickets, but the measure is only based on their height, not their age. I personally believe that all the students under 18 before they become adults should not pay for this. see? they don't earn money. Their only source of income is from the pocket money from their parents!
For older people, yes, our government seems to be mercy, but only seemingly so.
it specifies that older people over 70 can be exmept from bus tickets on condition that they spend 20.00 on a special card prooving they are old enough. This is ridiculous ! I bet few that old people can spend more than 20.00 on bus rides. They should totally be exmept from this with no additional condition ! They are retired, they are too old to creat wealthf for the society, it's their time to enjoy the rest of their life, not suffering from all sorts of inhumane policies 1
How are things different in your place? what do you say on this?
2 people like this
10 responses
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
5 Nov 09
well, here in Australia we also have to pay for the public transport fares whenever we use it... only children under 5 can ride for free ( i think so...) students, pensioner and jobless people can ride the bus for half the price by using the concession card provided to them by the transport company... and the price of public transport here is also quite high... i spend about $200 just for transport every month which is about 10% of my salary... take care and have a nice day...
@D4WNO83 (30)
•
5 Nov 09
In the UK, only senior citizens and those registered as disabled are able to obtain free bus travel.
I travel by bus every day and buy a monthly ticket which saves me a fortune compared to paying individually each day, it's an awful lot cheaper than paying for driving, petrol and parking too
@Bebs08 (10681)
• United States
5 Nov 09
Oh that is ridiculous!! I wonder how the low income people can survive in that situation? good if the work place is just a walking distance from your house? For me, if my work area is just close to where I stay? I'd rather walk than pay that high fare rate. It is not fare to those who earns a little,. It is hard to survive specially if there are lots of kids in the family to support.
@msfrancisco9369 (10002)
• Boston, Massachusetts
5 Nov 09
Hi Magic,
In our country we all pay for our public transportation fares but we have discounts for the senior citizen and the people with disabilities. Everything is paid here by its citizen.
If the government will make if free because we are paying our tax religiously-- it will be a great relief from all of us!
@Simon1223 (903)
• China
5 Nov 09
In my view, the government has the responsibilities to subsidize the public transportation. A cheap and developed public transportation system is not only good for citizens who live in this city, but also good for the development of the city. I believe that the officials understand that. They don't invest enough money in the public transportation just because they consider this issue in another way. To establish a developed public transportation system, the government should invest a lot of money, most of which are from financial funds. The officials think that financial funds should be invested in projects which could create GDP. Obviously the public transportation doesn't belong to such projects. And those officials who make decisions have their own cars, so they have no chance to know the feelings of ordinary people.
@getbrowser (1708)
• China
5 Nov 09
Nowadays, we have met the simliar situation and I guess many people from China have such a experience.
It is not reasonable obviously for everyone living in the city to pay for the public transport fares all citizens should pay for the public transport fares. From where I stand, the government should make a big investment in the public transport and citizens can enjoy the convenience freely. As a "open and equitable" government, it is obvious that some official staffs have tried everyway to "earn" money from their citizens, which is such a rough way.
Of course, we can do nothing but to complain. Perhaps what we can do is just to expect some officials becoming mercy someday!
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
5 Nov 09
hi magic I am in California in the US. our wages are higher but our cost of living is also high,little kids are not charged on our buses, adults under senior citizen ages pay for an all day bus pass four dollars, I as an elderly woman pay one dollar and a quarter for all day pass. but again our income is higher than yours a lot of Americans make twenty thousand dollars a year or more some make forty one thousand or about 27 or 28 dollars an hour, so it is not quite as hard on us as it is on your people.
@anotherxidentity (1434)
• United States
5 Nov 09
I think that only people using the transportation actually need to be paying to use it because guess what why should someone pay for something they aren't using? People who use it probably want them to so the price for them goes down, but if you were the other person you wouldn't want to be paying. The thing with China is a lot of times there are other transportation options available such as walking and riding the bus depending where you are going so no I don't think a bus is a necessity. I think the price of the bus service should depend on how much you use the bus - its only fair.
@buping (952)
• China
5 Nov 09
hi magic, we do not have this kind of arguement and topics here in this city. but i do not think that all citizens should pay for the public transport fares. such as some people do not take a bus or taxi often, students ride a bicycle to school, it is not fair to them to pay for transport fares, and old people do not use them too, and they may stay at home, so that's my personal view.
@tambrerocks (123)
• United States
5 Nov 09
I think public transportation should be free to everyone and get cars off the road and reduce pollution. However, someone has to pay. Therefore if you use it you need to pay for it. If I don't use it, why should I pay for it. To cut cost of transportation the way in which it is being run needs to change.
