Every time you fuel up a vehicle you are paying a "fare" to use the road. The fare is subsidized (just like with the bus), but it is very much there and not zero.
>Every time you earn money/spend money you are paying taxes.
>I guess busses run on fairy dust too?
Every vehicle on the roads is basically paying to be there via fuel tax (which in whole or large part is spent on the roads). Busses pass some of this cost on to their riders who's fare may be then subsidized in part or full.
The funniest thing about Luxembourg is that it is a known tax haven for American corporations. So American corporations will lobby against social programs in the US, but will make Americans fund Luxembourg's free public transport.
Luxembourg has insane tax revenue per capita because of its status as an international tax haven. A program that might be hardly noticeable on Luxembourg's budget could put a big dent into the budget of an American city.
Free roads and highways: GOOD AND NATUAL
The political class are not typically utilizers of public transit: hence even the best attempts are structurally challenged from the outset.
If that isn’t factored into your analysis, you are missing a huge reason why it sometimes fails and sometimes succeeds.