I agree with this. Also, at least within cities anyway, transit is already far far cheaper than driving. I do not think that costs are the factor that are keeping people away from transit. If there are special groups who maybe do have problems affording it, then that should be addressed on that level rather than with blanket solutions that are more likely to backfire.
Transit in many cities has an image problem, and this image problem is precisely that middle income middle class people do not use transit. If you want transit to be perceived as being for everybody you have to make everybody feel comfortable there. And this may mean tailoring to their needs. Middle income middle class people don't mind paying for things but do like to get something back for their money. This means making transit clean, comfortable, safe, reliable, welcoming, serving the right routes etc, all factors that will also make others, including the poor, feel welcome there as well.
Of course the poor and homeless etc should be welcome on transit too, but if you tailor it only for them you risk ending up with nobody else using it besides.
