tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364586410437298556.post1749245981252727167..comments2023-11-03T06:49:09.136-05:00Comments on Heretic at the Gates: The Metro monopoly keeps serving up laughsWill McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05742233928328747756noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364586410437298556.post-90005610459388228632008-06-26T20:20:00.000-05:002008-06-26T20:20:00.000-05:00Lower the barriers to entry. As far as I know, it...Lower the barriers to entry. As far as I know, it's illegal to compete with Metro. You and I are not allowed to go buy a bus and start charging people for rides, nor are we allowed to buy a train and charge people for rides. We can't even give people a ride in a car and then ask for money, i.e. not without going through the horribly expensive, arcane, and political process of obtaining a cab drivers license.<BR/><BR/>Read Dan Klein's "Curb Rights" for some ideas on how to privatize urban transit. The short answer is to implement a higher degree of property rights in our public streets.Will McBridehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05742233928328747756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364586410437298556.post-72466826227368947892008-06-26T18:51:00.000-05:002008-06-26T18:51:00.000-05:00How do you propose to introduce competition into M...How do you propose to introduce competition into Metrorail? I would love for them to build new lines and fix the foundational error of only building two tracks on each line, but if the government doesn't have that money (and it doesn't), how can private industry come up with the cash?<BR/><BR/>On the bus side, you can try competition, I suppose, but I'm not sure how any transit agency can make it without public subsidies. That $1.35 in cash to ride the bus would be a lot higher if riders (like me) instead of the taxpayers of DC (which also includes me) were paying the salaries. The only significant improvement the private but publicly-subsidized Circulator buses have introduced seems to relate to their schedules (they don't have them) and the design of the buses, both of which were chosen by the city. I don't know whether they're unionized or more economically efficient; I suspect no on both accounts.hbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06052225391703000955noreply@blogger.com