Cutting down on public transportation and free tarrif for women a boon or bane for the economy of Punjab?

User fees and fares are the two main sources of revenue for public transport systems and are mainly used for maintenance and operations.

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Reena Sharma, doing a Master's in Environmental Science says, "Global warming is a serious issue and if public transport is free, more people would use it, taking cars off the road. 1 bus could take 2000 cars off the road. A public transport system with 20 buses could take 40,000 cars off the road. Some people would simply choose to not own cars, further reducing the number of cars on the road.

"Across dozens of cities in the nation and thousands worldwide, the result of free public transport would be dramatic in cutting vehicle emissions and combating global warming."

22-year-old Karan says, "The government would be forced to improve public transport. With more users, bad public transport networks would be improved by the government, to make them worthwhile using. Bad networks would be greatly improved, and the benefits can be used by everyone. It's definitely a worthwhile incentive." 

Rakesh Arora, a businessman, says, "If it was free for everyone to get to work, families wouldn't need two or three cars; just one or even none, depending on their availability to public transport of course. Most families have several cars, and one is used just for someone to get to work each day. This wouldn't be necessary. 

"It would hurt the car industry and car makers would most likely lose their jobs, and car companies may collapse, which is very bad news."

Jasleen Kaur says, " Some public transport cities are already terrible; this would just increase the strain. Some public transport networks are already crowded and/or unreliable. With increased customers and pressure, these networks wouldn't manage. It would cost too much for the government to pay for running public transport services. With the economic crisis, it needs to spend the money on other more important things." 


Japjot Singh Professor says, " User fees and fares are the two main sources of revenue for public transport systems and are mainly used for maintenance and operations.

" To revamp systems and ensure quality and continuity of service, public transport requires additional finances. Hence, exploring and adopting innovative financing mechanisms becomes imperative." 

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