[_m8fo]

Sure, but why should the MBTA care about the Providence Line in particular, as opposed to say, Worcester or other parts of Massachusetts?

[srj]

It's the most traveled line.

[_m8fo]

Sure, but by that logic, why not extend rapid transit -- it's far more traveled than all of the commuter rail lines combined.

[tacomonstrous]

Probably because it earns the most revenue, given its usage and distance.

[_m8fo]

Given that the MBTA is a money losing organization I'm not sure revenue maximization is necessarily the strategy that should be sought.

[SamReidHughes]

It's how you measure whether you're doing something useful.

[dogecoinbase]

No, because then it's what's optimized for. It's like if you run a hospital "like a business" -- it becomes optimized for making money at the expense of patient care.

[SamReidHughes]

It's not like a hospital at all -- not that many hospitals couldn't benefit from being run better.

The revenue of a train line is proportional to passengers served and forms a baseline for the total value the passengers received from the service. There's no problems with stuff like quality of passenger care.

[briandear]

Hospitals ARE a business.

[Mz]

The majority of US hospitals are not for profit.

https://bizfluent.com/profit-vs-non-profit-hospitals-9733.ht...