Maybe I shouldn't need a transit ticket at all?

Prior to a month ago, I've been asked for my transit ticket as proof of purchase maybe half a dozen times in five years. Over the past four weeks, I would say I have been asked for my ticket maybe ten times at least. There a blitz on fare dodging. Generally the checks occur as you are entering the transit zone, not as you are leaving. So on those occasions, you can't get onto transit unless you have a ticket, but if you are leaving the zone without a ticket, you are fine. In your dive to the exit, you can dance naked but you'd be sooner fine for public nudity than for being ticket less. I have no problems with these checks, its a minor inconvenience to retrieve the ticket and show it to the bored looking attendant. Of course as you search through your purse is certain that tired looking chad will be stuck between the Red Hot video card and the money off coupon for laxatives. But I wonder how effective these checks are. They seem like a waste of resources, given that the barn door is already wide open elsewhere in the jolly system.

I also travel on the buses. These days you can get on at the back of a lot of buses without showing your ticket. I've never been asked for proof of purchase once I've got on the bus via the back door. I wonder where is the incentive to buy a ticket? I'm thinking either make transit "free" for everyone (with corresponding increase in taxes to pay for it) or have a competent mechanism in place to enforce ticket purchase. A rider pay transit system does seem more equitable than one that is free, since on the face of it, people who never ride the blogtrain shouldn't have to pay for it. But then again couldn't you say that about a lot of public services? Some functions are for the greater good regardless of who uses them. I am in favour of paying taxes to improve health, education and transportation systems for all, not just me. I am sure economists have done the mathematics, maybe they've decided that the taxes required for a "free" transit system would be prohibitive. But maybe its time to reconsider it, divert money away from improving commuter roads, and aim to get more folks to ride public transit instead of spending more money as incentives for people to commute to work in gas guzzling vehicles. Maybe I'm out to lunch, but I am thinking that some day in the not too distant future, the household car will go the way of the dodo. Right now, our home has two, but if there were better transit options, I can see us going down to one car and then none. Yeah, I hear you screech, the proof will be in the pudding (where the hell did that phrase come from ? OK here). It will be a difficult luxury to give up, but I say bring it on.