[hobofan]

> Public transportation is supposed to lose money, not make it, hence the "public" part. It's paid for by tax dollars, because it is impossible for private companies to make money from it.

What? No! Public as in "open to the public". At least in the German equivalent "Öffentlicher Nahverkehr" thats exactly what it says ("öffentlich" = "open to the public").

Systems like the MTR[0] also show that it is indeed possible to have a public transportation system that is directly profitable at scale.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTR

[mozumder]

In the US, "public transportation" means "transportation system owned by the public". This is opposed to "private transportation", which is owned by private entities.

All tranport systems are available for use by the general public.

Also, the MTR infrastructure is government subsidized.