there is a case consistent with this for free transit, which is simply that middle-class habitual drivers are put off by the fare box, that at a psychological level dealing with the awkwardness of cash or getting a transit card means middle class people who otherwise might never step on a bus. 1/

it’s not the cost of the fare, it’s the barrier to casual entrance that prevents middle-class people from slipping toward mixed-automotive-and-transit lifestyles that woukd make fully transit-based lifestyles more thinkable. 2/

making payment of fares much more convenient, and advertising that widely, could help. just tap an ordinary payment card, easy peasy! but even that’s not nothing, and most places don’t even have that. /fin