Where do ordinary people relax?

[Green Shirt]

I'm sure they have couches in the 23rd century. Don't they? ...don't they???

They better have. Where else will we eat our sandwiches of the future?

 

[R. Star]

I'm sure Risa and Wrigley's Pleasure Planet are open to civilians, too. Vash was on Risa, after all.

But there must be some way to regulate the flow of people wanting to go there.

If something is free, then not only will everyone want it, everyone will (theoretically) get it, which will result in queues like you wouldn't believe. Billions of people in the Federation, all of whom wanted to visit the same one or two planets? The waiting list would last for generations.

It's too bad that the socially advanced Federation doesn't have a medium of exchange for goods and services when problems like this arise.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Exactly! It's the same reason why there aren't a hundred thousand people waiting outside Sisko's Creole Kitchen at all times. These examples alone are proof-positive that the Federation must logically have money.

You can't have everything be free all the time, because that would result in supply AND demand problems - too many people would want it, and you couldn't possibly supply them all (even with replicators). Cost helps control things a bit - thins the herd, in a way. Especially here.

On a vaguely related matter: Even for those who can't, or won't, go to places like Risa, there must be a near-infinite amount of entertainment options still available. Team sports or other athletic events that people can go to; access to the entire world's library of music, TV, movies, etc. at all times (which everyone's computers can surely provide), and sometimes just a flat-out good book. Not everybody is such a hedonist that they would want to go to Risa. Places like that, well, some people just aren't into that sort of thing.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Depends what you mean by money.

Earth in Star Trek doesn't have currency. But do individual people have things of limited supply that they exchange for other things of limited supply? Sure. Sr Sisko's restaurant has to have a waiting list, and you know he bumps people to the front when he likes them.

Influence and special favors are currency. You don't need currency to get food and shelter, but it's there.

 

[Melakon]

Presumably Risa tries to keep out the riff-raff somehow, though we did see criminals, Ferengi, and crazy terrorists around the place.

 

[Captain Rob]

I bet the lines at DisneyPlanet(patent pending) are HUGE!
They probably have space stations in orbit just to line everyone up.
I'll just stay home. Go to the holodeck and play GTAXXXXV. I hear that the expansion pack let's you operate early 21st Century land vehicles.