3 ms·

Wouldn't adding more expensive classes provide funding to increase capacity?

atoav 3y ago
Public transport shouldn't be treated as a simple commodity. Having good public transport increases the land value, decreases maintenance costs for roads, increases revenues for local shops, decreases polution and noise and the follow up health care costs and so on. So a public transport service can be year after year in the red, while hollistically generating a ton of value for everybody in the city. In my eyes the ig orance toward rhese other benefits is a shortcoming of the neoliberal ideas that have been popular over the past decades. Sure you can make a public transport company more financially viable by cutting services, but that comes with a hidden cost elsewhere. The goal should be to have public transport so good, reliable and clean that people won't even feel a need for a business class. Maybe this is my bias as someone who had the pleasure of growing up in the alps with very good public transport systems, but hey, why not.
- angmarsbane 3y ago
  Public transit is like Costco's rotisserie chicken. Costco takes a loss on the chicken because it gets people in the door spending on higher margin products. Local governments should take a loss on public transit because it enriches the economy around it by connecting workers with employers, and shoppers of all ages and levels of mobility/independence with business.
Mordisquitos 3y ago
At the level of funding needed to increase the capacity of metropolitan services, the possible additional income from more expensive classes is negligible. Consider that public transportation is almost always subsidised, hence current tickets are already well below the cost of a trip. This is why many transport services offer cheap season tickets for residents, while making some additional cash (but still well below cost) from infrequent users such as tourists. At most, maybe some kind of new bus services which were "first class only" could be self-sustaining, but only at a very high premium which would make them ridiculously expensive and still barely worth it for anyone.

Public transport shouldn't be treated as a simple commodity. Having good public transport increases the land value, decreases maintenance costs for roads, increases revenues for local shops, decreases polution and noise and the follow up health care costs and so on. So a public transport service can be year after year in the red, while hollistically generating a ton of value for everybody in the city. In my eyes the ig orance toward rhese other benefits is a shortcoming of the neoliberal ideas that have been popular over the past decades. Sure you can make a public transport company more financially viable by cutting services, but that comes with a hidden cost elsewhere. The goal should be to have public transport so good, reliable and clean that people won't even feel a need for a business class. Maybe this is my bias as someone who had the pleasure of growing up in the alps with very good public transport systems, but hey, why not.

angmarsbane 3y ago
Public transit is like Costco's rotisserie chicken. Costco takes a loss on the chicken because it gets people in the door spending on higher margin products. Local governments should take a loss on public transit because it enriches the economy around it by connecting workers with employers, and shoppers of all ages and levels of mobility/independence with business.

Mordisquitos 3y ago

At the level of funding needed to increase the capacity of metropolitan services, the possible additional income from more expensive classes is negligible. Consider that public transportation is almost always subsidised, hence current tickets are already well below the cost of a trip. This is why many transport services offer cheap season tickets for residents, while making some additional cash (but still well below cost) from infrequent users such as tourists. At most, maybe some kind of new bus services which were "first class only" could be self-sustaining, but only at a very high premium which would make them ridiculously expensive and still barely worth it for anyone.