I guess. To clarify, if I also had to choose between maintaining existing service levels but free or prioritizing service expansion with an equivalent amount of funding I would also opt for the latter, except in cases where the cost of collecting the fare outpaces the benefits (like traffic data as I mentioned) or revenue recovery from it.
I think free fare advocates aren’t advocating for this hypothetical tradeoff, it’s probably for increased funding to replace fare revenue
I guess. To clarify, if I also had to choose between maintaining existing service levels but free or prioritizing service expansion with an equivalent amount of funding I would also opt for the latter, except in cases where the cost of collecting the fare outpaces the benefits (like traffic data as I mentioned) or revenue recovery from it.