December 16-22, 2004

slant

Free Ride

Want to save SEPTA? Let's forget about this whole "fare" nonsense.

by Nathaniel Popkin

OK, everyone ready? Let's practice. Turn to your neighbor and say: Public transit ought to be free!

Neighbor, now it's your turn:

Yes! Public transit really ought to be free.

Get up, get out of bed, get on the bus, transfer to the subway, to the trolley, another bus.

You get around! Your taxes pay all the way! Government works!

You say to your friends in New York, in D.C., in Chicago, oh, yeah, in Philly we all ride free. That's just the way it is.

Government works. Buses and streetcars and subways make cities work.

Now you're thinking, I've swallowed my tokens, the lead is going to my head. But wait, we live in a nation that has endorsed pre-emptive war as its seminal foreign policy. So crazy ideas why not?

But first, why? In 2002, over 1,600 traffic fatalities cost the Commonwealth more than $8 billion. Nearly one in every 13 Pennsylvanians (and four out of four in my house) suffers from asthma, which researchers now connect directly to tailpipe emissions.

We're killing ourselves by automobile.

And we're building row houses with vinyl garage doors within spitting distance of subway stations. Now SEPTA says it's been ignored for too long and is closing shop on weekends. SEPTA thinks if it gets all puffy and bent out of shape, we'll come a-running with dollars in our fists. But the damage is already done. No real city would consider, even as a bad joke, even as a ploy, canceling weekend service.

But we're not Atlanta, and we ought not act as though we are. We should be clear: The billions of dollars in investment made these past years in the physical form of Philadelphia — in all the condos and spiffy research labs, in the Kimmel Center and stadiums, in Microsoft's coming high school, in the Constitution Center, in the Convention Center, in gleaming white City Hall, in silvery 40th and Walnut — is destined to be steaming scum on the slag heap of cities without superb transit. Try telling anyone — hipster, immigrant, immigrant hipster, dowdy, white, ballet-loving accountant, anyone — Philly's for real without weekend service, without night service, with three dollar fares.

You'll get a deserved "Yeah, right."

We need another subway line, just for starters.

So, where do we start?

With free rides. Because we've proven incapable of solving problems of social justice, here's something easy, bold, and guaranteed to boost this state and city's economy. Here's something tangible, a lesson in government working for you. Proof that blue states and cities can fight back. As we sail around on our Vespas, the Bush administration is sabotaging the states' efforts to calm the tide of global warming, arguing that states don't have the right to regulate greenhouse gases. But the feds can't stop us from providing a genuine amenity to the citizens of this state that just happens to be a fine tool for slowing the burning of fossil fuels.

Now you say it's plainly unrealistic and way too expensive (like sabotaging Social Security with reckless private investment accounts or starting a war for $1 billion a day that we can't finish or win). The feds, the state, the city and suburbs now spend about $460 million to operate SEPTA. The other $460 million is covered by fares, advertising, parking and rent. Let's say the state covers $400 million of that every year, leaving the rest to SEPTA to collect in fees. That's an additional 0.8 percent of the state budget. Whew! Now let's say our plan generates enough additional ridership to reduce net traffic fatalities in Pennsylvania by 3 percent, or about 50 deaths a year. Pennsylvania saves $250,000,000 in direct loss to the economy.

Safer. More productive. Cleaner. Progressive.

Imagine Philadelphia with free transit.

Imagine saying, yes, we can do this.

Imagine answering the equally bold and utterly destructive (and fiscally irresponsible) policies of the right with a smart vision for a proud, blue, urban America.

We have to start right now.

Nathaniel Popkin is the author of Song of the City. If you would like to respond to this Slant or submit your own (800 words), contact Duane Swierczynski, Editor in Chief, City Paper, 123 Chestnut Street, Third Floor, Phila., Pa., 19106 or e-mail Duane Swierczynski