Since the following article has a bias in favor of free transit, the downsides mentioned are few. (I'm sure it'd be hard to find a lot of writing about the negatives of free public transport, as this viewpoint is not popular in the press.)
The article mentions decreased costs for fuel, parking, insurance, maintenance, and decreased accidents, litter, and pollution. Passengers can use front and rear doors making stops more efficient.
Note that the increased capacity for cars (freed up by bus passengers) can entice more cars to re-fill the void, so measures to decrease road capacity have to be enacted.
The article seems to be written by someone German, which makes it a little hard to read. I was interested to note that with the advent of free transit, "most of the new riders were former cyclists and pedestrians."
Here is a list of disadvantages from the Wikipedia page:
Several large North American municipalities have attempted zero-fare systems, but many of these implementations have been unsuccessful. A 2002 National Center for Transportation Research report suggests that, while transit ridership does tend to increase, there are also some serious disadvantages:[3]
- A sharp increase in vandalism and hooliganism
- Transit vehicles turning into de facto homeless shelters
- In large transit systems, significant revenue shortfalls
- A significant increase in driver complaints and staff turnover, even though farebox-related arguments are all but eliminated
- Slower service overall (not collecting fares has the effect of speeding boarding, but increased crowding tends to swamp out this effect)
- Declines in schedule adherence
- Increased costs in security and vehicle-maintenance
- General increase in local and state/provincial taxes (including for those who do not use the bus)
This report suggests that, while ridership does increase overall, the ultimate goal of reducing emissions by enticing drivers to take transit instead is rarely met: because fare-free systems tend to attract large numbers of hooligans, vagrants and other "problem riders", zero-fare systems often have the effect of frightening potential riders back into their cars.[3]
...I would think that the increase in "problem riders" is small, but any instance of such problems would get blown out of proportion, undermining efforts to reap the benefits of free transportation. In my experience, over hundreds of rides on the bus, only twice did I encounter a problem where the driver had to ask a passenger to get off. Perhaps the solution is either a nominal small fare, or an expensive monthly pass that allows free rides.
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