mass transit (sic)

[Jordan Hayes]

> I think the problem is not one of capacity, but a general
> political bias against a system that appears to lose money,
> thanks to much foolish talk about the evils of public borrowing
> (ahem).

So the problem would be to figure out a way to not have it appear to
lose money, right?

I mean, does building a 6-lane freeway 'lose money' ...?  Of course not,
because freeways are, um, free and they aren't run like a business.

Why does Amtrak get run like a business?  Why doesn't it get run like
CalTrans (the folx in the orange trucks you see fixing freeways in
California) -- they don't lose money, they just spend it to keep the
traffic flowing.

Fare recovery is a lousy part of the transit world: I can't tell you
how many green light cycles I've missed while waiting to board an SF
Muni bus, or how many hundreds of hours I've spent waiting to pay my $2
at the Bay Bridge.

/jordan