Here in the Faroes (at least in the capital), we have the best of both worlds. Free, and plenty of space.
In 2007, the fare for municipal busses was removes, and at the same time, more frequent trips were introduced (by 50% at day time).
The routes and schedule are managed by the City Council, the operated by the lowest bidding bus company.
So far, it has been successfull, but it had a bit of a bumpy start. The sudden increase in demand for busses, meant that there weren't enough busses to go around and some cheap, old ones were used. But the success has meant that there was a business case to upgrade the busses.
It's payed by tax payers via the Council. The Council is funded via income tax, currently at around 20%.
"Smaller companies that held patents worried that if Microsoft prevailed, it could lower the standard of proof for invalidating a patent, crippling small companies that depend on patent protection, legal experts say."
Other than patent trolls, which small (software) company benefits from (software) patents?
I suspect this might be the work of Cory Docterow, I believe I heard him mentioning that the did a deal with Amazon where they would publish his books without DRM. But I might be wrong.
The UK has a similar system. You borrow money to pay for the tuition and living costs. The repayment is then, like in the article, a fraction on the post-graduation salary.
The difference is that it is not time base. You have to pay it all back with interest. Also, both the lender and the university are public.