mass transit (sic)

[Max B. Sawicky]

Your problem will be solved with technology,
where it hasn't been already, as foretold 40
years ago by dec'd Nobelist Bill Vickrey.

Inconvenience aside, there is still a case
for some charge to riders.  If I take the
subway and you stay home, I benefit a bit
more and create a cost a bit more than you.

One could argue that the need to redensify
cities is sufficiently compelling as to justify
free public transit.  There's more on this in
the Persky/Wiewel chapter of my "End of Welfare?"
book (M.E. Sharpe, 2000).

mbs

. . . 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