People start making perfectly walkable or bikable trips by bus
People start making trips they didn’t need to make at all
Public transit becomes dependent on public funding, which may fluctuate with economic downturns – whereas a private company would be more free to compensate
As a practical example, Tallinn, Estonia introduced free public transit some years back. Oddly enough, it had almost no effect to car usage although public transit use increased.
If free public transit means people use it, that’s a good thing.
I think it extremely unlikely people will abuse it to the point of ruining the service.
I can imagine a few ways it can go sideways:
People start making perfectly walkable or bikable trips by bus
People start making trips they didn’t need to make at all
Public transit becomes dependent on public funding, which may fluctuate with economic downturns – whereas a private company would be more free to compensate
As a practical example, Tallinn, Estonia introduced free public transit some years back. Oddly enough, it had almost no effect to car usage although public transit use increased.