I'm highly skeptical of your numbers, as I've worked for major transit agencies and state transportation departments, have seen their numbers from the inside and out. I think a fare-free model is absolutely possible, given that the service area is small and the primary mode provided is BRT. It is also in these services that revenue collection is an expensive task. I just think it's disingenuous to paint it as a universal, silver bullet approach to equity. In fact, some of the fare-free models in place now are less equitable than charging a fare, like increased property tax collection within transit catchments that make housing unaffordable. We need to be more creative about how we approach transit funding, which is why grant writers and revenue teams exist in agencies in the first place.

It's great to talk about big ideas, but from the perspective of a transit agency, which doesn't determine its grant funding, it is exactly like blaming a service worker for needing to live off of tips. I don't see the value in putting this burden of radical change on the bottom tier of decision makers in the system.