Reply to Say goodbye to your transit subsidies

Forum Index » Political Discussion

Reply to "Say goodbye to your transit subsidies"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]People who want to gripe that transit subsidies are a handout are ignorantly - or purposely - missing the point.

Subsidizing fares on public transit is subsidizing public transit.  If fewer people use public transit, fares have to go up for the people who do.

If you're some Grinch who thinks you shouldn't have to pay for something you don't use, I hate to break it to you but there are countless "handouts" you're receiving every day.

[/quote]

One other thing to consider: only ONE public transportation system in the entire world operates at a profit. That is the MTR, the private transportation corporation for Hong Kong. However, even this system has a "hidden" government subsidy: the MTR is given exclusive rights to develop the land on top of the Metro stations at land values far below arms' length market value. Therefore, the MTR is one of the largest landowners in Hong Kong and one of the largest owners of prime retail and office space. The MTR uses these real estates profits to subsidize the fares and keep their stations and trains immaculately clean. Additionally, 90% of Hong Kong residents use the MTR system daily.

No other transportation system in the world operates at a profit solely on fares. ALL require government subsidies.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics