Re: Free trams for St Kilda [Vic]

[David McLoughlin <davemclNOSPAM@iprolink.co.nz>]

WooF wrote:

> The great columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, Herb Caen,
> argued for about a half-century or so for free transit in San
> Francisco -- a compact city where free transit would work well.
> Had his suggestion been adopted at the end of WWII, before the
> massive abandonments of rail lines, the city would probably be
> almost auto-free today.
> 

Many SF residents might disagree, but from my experience and study of
transit systems world-wide, SF has one of the best systems -- a fact
backed by the huge ridership.

Not all the former streetcar lines deserved to survive as rail lines.
Many were converted to trolleybuses and the latter are also attractive
vehicles for passengers and they are particularly useful on the city's
steep hills. The streetcar system has been gradually expanding again
since about 1980 in any case (route M extension to Balboa Park, route J
ditto, the new F-Market-Fisherman's Wharf line, route N extension to the
Caltrain station and there are further proposals ie Third Street.

> By the way -- what is the biggest city with wholly free public
> transit?

Is there one, anywhere? And major metro area, I mean, not a free bus
route in some obscure place.

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand