[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh - think tank blasts possible new transit taxes

[Herb Brannon]

It has always been my viewpoint, since the demise of private public transit in favor of public authorities that a new era, if you will, has emerged. The transit service, anywhere it is supported by tax dollars, should now be thought of as a part of its service area infrastructure. Just as the electricity, water, sewage, gas, etc are public utilities so now is public transportation. Albeit it is paid for by all taxpayers and not just the users of the service. If only the users were to pay, then there would have been no need to get rid of the private companies as everything would have remained the same. In the early days of tax supported authorities and up through the early-1980s the funding was pretty much a good thing. Money was used were it should have been used and things worked nicely. Only after the Regan administration with the @$$ backward "supply side economics", profit taking, greed, and Elizabeth Dole as head of the US Department of Transportation did things begin
 to leave common sense behind. Today, some public funding is going for good operations, however a lot is being wasted on pork barrel projects. This is money that could better be spent on educating children, feeding the hungry and housing the homeless.
Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:   

Look at my comments about riders in Lancaster ... one person in every 
other family in 1915 to one person in every 50 families today. 
Would it not just cheaper to send a taxi to pick up the guy? Yes, 
but there are those who argue that we cannot do that because that 
would be discriminating.

What is wrong with a society that discriminates against you and me by 
charging us to run a 35 foot bus for two people?



Herb Brannon