The Problem with Public Transit

August 11, 2023

by Ed Bugos Mises.org

A friend of mine works for the public sector, in transit specifically. When I asked him to tell me what value he saw in “public transit” for society, he replied,

You must be from the stone ages! Public transit fulfills an important function. It provides transportation for folks who can’t afford the private solutions, and also solves the problem of congestion and pollution in crowded cities. And it can do some of this better than private enterprise, especially in regard to poor people far away from jobs.

But how does the private sector work, exactly? Many people think of profit as a dirty word, something exploitive. They attach moral judgements to profit-seeking enterprises. Yet, the concept of profit, especially when combined with its corollary (loss), has a social value.