Public services should not have the goal of being profitable. That's how you get negative feedback loops of bad service and declining utilization. Public trans

Public services should not have the goal of being profitable. That's how you get negative feedback loops of bad service and declining utilization. Public transportation does not have to be terrible, by the way. Many cities have great public transit - Montreal and Hong Kong are ones I've personally experienced that had great public transit systems. But I get the sense that a lot of US cities treat public transit as a parasitic entity taking up space and leeching money. When providing public transit is not a priority it's not surprising that it becomes compromised in ways that ruin its utility. > Washington DC spent hundreds of millions of dollars on brand new subway cars that were supposed last 40 years, now they all need to be replaced after 3 years. By the way, isn't this the fault of the (presumably private) contractor that built the things? It's not like a bunch of bureaucrats built these things with their welding rigs and wrenches. Until there are meaningful penalties for these kinds of fuckups by the private sector, why wouldn't they treat public projects as free money? It's what the profit motive dictates.