Overpopulation and uneven population distribution have caused some frustrating issues for the people, some of them are intangible, hard to notice, and do not occur frequently, while others happen almost in everyday life. two of the visible problems we can mention here, are traffic congestion, and polluted air. It has been argued that in metropolises that public transport should be free to help alleviate these matters. This essay will argue why this approach will not be effective, for the reasons of time, and finance.
The first reason why a free public transport system will not work is time, it takes time to build any kind of infrastructure for a big city, and building a sufficient transportation system for the people to use freely would take years, or even decades. Take Japan for example, their metro, which is a subway operator with millions of passengers daily, began from 1927, which is 97 years ago. A good system requires good planning, and it takes time to make a good, detailed plan, if a project of such system is announced, the government must be committed to completing that project, and the people must also be patient for years, in the meantime, private vehicles will still be regularly used and the problems will remain.
The second reason is money, not only it will take time to build a sophisticated, and free system of transportation, but it will also cost a lot of money, especially for those cities which have very undeveloped means of public transportation. And because it will be free, where will the government get their money to build it, if not from the government budget, which includes the money collected from taxation. If the budget for the construction of the system is not enough, then there is a very real chance of the taxes being raised, and the people will have to accept that if they want the system to be completed in the far future. Even if the system is done, there will be other issues such as maintenance and modernizing, which will require even more money to keep the system working. Perhaps a car or a motorcycle will cost much less than the system.
In conclusion, a free public transportation system is a welcomed dream, perhaps in some day in the future, where technologies are advanced enough to build such system quickly and without costing much, that system will become a reality. But in the meantime, due to the long waiting time, and the high cost of construction, it will not be the best option for everyone, and private vehicles will remain the most common means of transportation for a while.