The city of Saskatoon (in Canada) is considering making transit free for kids, after the success of the other 'major' city in the province.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/saskatoon-bus-rides-free-1.7024401

The report said that in the first eight months after making the move, Regina Transit saw an increase of approximately 260 per cent in ridership from youth under 13 (about 81,000 rides).

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Regina estimated it would lose $81,000 per year in revenue from child fares, according to the report but made all of its money back, partially due to an increase in adults riding to accompany kids.

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So wait, you're telling me that people will willingly ride the bus if it's free (thus more convenient for kids who don't reliably carry exact change for the bus)? Literally thousands of extra users? Which also means that likely most of that many additional private vehicle trips didn't occur? Hmm, if only we could figure out something to do with this information!

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