Sarah Peper 🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇦Feb 20, 2023

Public transport isn't supposed to make money. It's not even supposed to break even. It's supposed to lose money and to be financed and extended from general taxes because it gives back way more than mere money.

And all the politicians know this because they keep building and maintaining streets for free

Show threadPaul van den BergenFeb 21, 2023
@jay_peper Imagine the furor if businesses who use the roads had to pay to use them...
Show threadTrashPandaFeb 27, 2023
@bulwynkl @jay_peper But business and individuals already do pay taxes, which fund road maintenance... So is this not what we're already doing?
Show threadPaul van den BergenMay 8, 2023

@TrashPanda @jay_peper

If roads were like trains, every road would be a toll road. And to ensure competition, different roads would be owned by different tolling companies. And the toll owners are not required to maintain the roads.

Show threadTrashPanda
@bulwynkl @jay_peper I didn't say roads are like trains. Heck a better comparison would be saying roads are like train tracks, or trains are like cars. Let's not confuse the infrastructure with the vehicle.
But also trains do not equal public transportation. Busses are probably more relevant public transit in more cities (at least in the US) and metro trains and subways are publicly owned, so there is no effort to "ensure competition" (not that there's any serious effort in other industries but that's another story), and taxpayers DO pay to maintain them. So I'm not sure what you're getting at.
May 13, 2023 at 5:38amWeb