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I assume you think its ok for airlines to be privately run and they're part of the transpo system.

Correct, I should have been more specific. With airlines I book my trip weeks in advance so I can shop around for fares. With transit I want to be able to walk out my door and get on a vehicle. And be able to transfer without worrying about extra costs.

Of course, airlines are massively subsidized by government infrastructure and bailouts.

I don't think you can take it as given that having larger government by including the entire network as part of the subsidy system increases support. There are plenty of people who would like to see government operate at the minimum efficient size that's needed to provide inherently governmental services.

There is a subsection who believe that. And there is also a large(r) subsection of people called "transit riders" who think "hey, I ride WMATA and it gets me where I need to go, and gets people out of traffic, we should probably be throwing money that way." Throw in private operators and that changes to "hey I ride Bob's Jitney every day and pay a dollar for it, and I subsidize those freeloading poor people across town who have city bus service! F*** them!"

Transit service along high ridership corridors in big cities is good because EVERYONE rides it and demands support for it. Transit service elsewhere sucks (infrequent, old buses, terrible routes) because only people who HAVE to ride it.

by MLD on Jun 5, 2012 4:03 pm • link • report

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