by Alan Broadbent
For people who despair of the costs of public transit systems but recognize their necessity in big cities, one of the panaceas is privatizing them. They believe that market-oriented business people will make better decisions, run the systems more efficiently, and relieve public budgets of big ticket items.
They’re dreaming.
The critical factor in transit provision is density. High-density areas can support high volume transit like subways. As the density is reduced, the supportable form of transit changes from subways to streetcars to buses to minibuses to jitneys. Putting the wrong vehicle in an area is an invitation to requiring operating subsidies, or to inadequate service that will lead to declining ridership.
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| photo by zyend |
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