[josefwasinski]

In London, Transport For London (TFL) is the largest land holder, and operates all public transport (trains, underground, buses, taxis) and only 23% of its funding comes from Government, the rest are from things like tickets, licenses, fees, rents etc. The government is pushing for them to become self-funded by 2018.

So there is an example of how something like this could work - if you have the assets to leverage. I think the obvious risks can be easily mitigated with safe-guards around selling assets and debt limits.

[TheCoelacanth]

I think public transportation agencies owning land is a model that actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it.

A large portion of the land's value comes from its proximity to public transportation service, so it makes sense that the public transportation service would be directly funded by collecting rent on the land value that it created.

[pm215]

This is somewhat similar to what the Metropolitan line did in the first third of the 20th century -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro-land -- though in that case I think they mostly sold off houses and building plots on the estates to gain an immediate capital return on the increased land value, rather than retaining the land and collecting rents.

[crdoconnor]

That's what the train companies do in Japan. They sell tickets virtually at cost and make their profits by building malls and shops next door to their stations and leasing the space out.

In the UK surplus value from land next to public transport is usually captured by private landlords while train tickets have gone up and up and up.