Public services are for the working poor, and politicians don't represent the poorer classes. The wealthy and middle class are larger, more dependable blocs, an

Public services are for the working poor, and politicians don't represent the poorer classes. The wealthy and middle class are larger, more dependable blocs, and politicians support policies that favor these two groups. Few in either of these groups use (or want to use) public services like mass transit. So the problem is pretty basic at its core: poor citizens are one of the largest non-voting blocks[1], and so underserved by politicians. This unequal representation leads to further income inequality[2] and partisanship, which leads to even more gerrymandering, more inadequate representation, and further income inequality... Meanwhile every individual (politician or voter or working poor) acts in an individually rational way, furthering the problem. [1]: https://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/voting/SB91-23.pdf https://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/voting/SB91-23.pdf [2]: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2649215 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2649215