Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

paperboat22 t1_jc73c3t wrote

Reply to comment by ClarkFable in Results of municipal broadband feasibility study: City-owned Internet has big pluses and price tag by b00gerbear

In the end, I think we treat these agencies (public transit, mail, etc) too much like businesses and not like public services.

No one questions whether roads are making enough money because it's understood that they enable productivity in the areas they serve. Meanwhile we expect the T to pay for itself rather than act as a utility.

4

ClarkFable t1_jc74px4 wrote

>o one questions whether roads are making enough money because it's understood that they enable productivity in the areas they serve. Meanwhile we expect the T to pay for itself rather than act as a utility

I'll get slammed for saying this, but a big part of the problem with a non-competitive public service like the MBTA is that, in the long run, the unions and the contractors will extract all of the benefits from the system until it's too expensive to maintain. Thus, it becomes a never ending money pit.

But then again I don't really have any good answers to solve it.

2