Free buses and a just transition vs political reality

ECan votes for free bus trial as it debates a 24.5% rates hike. A sample of how brutal the political economy of a just transition will be when the tough decisions are made by councils

TLDR: ECan voted yesterday for a free bus trial as it considered a 24.5% rates hike. The farmer-councillor who voted against it asked why ratepayers should pay. What he meant was: why should suburban and rural council voters pay for things urban non-voters will use?

This illustrates the big problem in our current ‘just transition’ drive towards carbon n…