'Tis possible to munt such a campaign here in Australia? Indications are indeed that there is traction. The has been running with it big time and the Socialist Alliance here has it on its banner.
And in Manchester, Mac Uaid reports:
On 25th September 2008, 40 people attended the launch meeting of the Greater Manchester Campaign for Free Public Transport. Amongst those present where members of the Campaign Against Climate Change, Friends of the Earth, the Labour Party, Green Party, Socialist Workers’ Party, the Socialist Party, Respect, and the Community Action Party. Alongside them were bus and rail workers, cycling and railway activists, and members of the general public.
Roy Wilkes of Respect opened the meeting by declaring that this “…is a campaign whose time has come. Climate change is a serious threat to the future of humanity and our response to it must include moving beyond the domination of the private automobile. In a recent survey, 72% of those interviewed said they would only give up their cars if public transport was free, and therewith,” he said, “lay the solution to the problem”.
