Canada

We expect transit to be a “profitable service” which is ridiculous because we don’t expect roads (except 407), sewers, schools, parking lots, etc to “break even”

Some things are just part of the public good. Simple as that.

In Alberta the UCP is mainly supported by the oil industry, but also consider that the current policy about lowering the minimum wage was a policy car dealerships across Alberta wanted.

Now, I only pay attention to this stuff in Alberta, because I live in Alberta, but I imagine this is going to be the same across Canada. Public transit is working against the profit incentive of an industry that has been lobbying its way into North American city planning for a century, making themselves a necessity.

I know the push in Alberta against bike lanes comes from a movement of people who have been trading their cars for bikes as the cities have made it possible to commute without a car. Something I imagine car dealerships and gas stations across the province are not exactly thrilled about, maybe at first it was fine but now it's effecting their bottom line. So the Alberta government is taking a more hands on approach to ensuring transit is less affordable by withholding funds and interfering with things like the green line. They don't want bikes being a viable alternative so they attack bike lanes, and thats also why they paint walkable "15 minute" cities as some kind of sinister conspiracy.

Just follow the money.

"Transit's not supposed to be for profit. It is an essential service. It has a very important social function of bringing people to work and bringing people to their desired destination," Carvalho said.

And that's the problem. Every city hall has decided that the system should be making money instead of realizing it was never intended to.

Because voters are too short sighted to elect someone who will raise taxes to pay for it.

Because we refuse to tax rich people

While I do think lower barriers for entry are generally good, I think challenging that it's affordable, even at $5, is disingenuous. Especially when compared to the alternatives.