"More taxes on everyone" also is dishonest. Every individual is paying more in "taxes", but the net amount of money collected from the population of the city for the cost of providing transit is decreased. (Since the cost of fare collection disappears. Or if the net amount of money doesn't decrease, they're presumably spending what was formerly spent on fare collection on additional service.)
I didn't imply that fares are taxes, because I don't feel that it's a relevant point either way, it's just a distraction to the actual matter - the cost of transit to society. Whether the cost is collected in taxes or fares is just an implementation detail.
