[bongodongobob]

The problem is "lower my taxes" single issue voters. People vote for whomever lowers taxes and then complain about potholes. It's always the same people. GOVERNMENT IS INCOMPETENT BLAH BLAH. Yeah, cause you refuse to fund it and everything goes to shit, then is 10x more expensive to fix it compared to properly funding maintenance. You end up paying more in the end because these people can't see past the couple hundred dollars they saved on their property taxes and wonder why everything is turning to shit.

[aorloff]

You have some evidence that government is not incompetent ?

[afavour]

It’s weird that people have this notion about government and only government. There are things governments do well and things they do badly. You could say the exact same thing about private business: businesses go bankrupt every day, wasting time and resources. But no one argues that the very concept of business is “incompetent”.

[stctw]

What is weird about this?

If a business fails to perform well, its customers can choose another provider, and the business will have to improve, or else it will fail.

If a government fails, what recourse do its "customers" have? Wait a few years for the next election and hope that the truth about the government's poor performance wins out over the propaganda, and hope that the citizens vote in competent, honest officials, who might gradually make improvements, despite having to work through non-elected officials who are difficult to replace for incompetency? How often does that happen? And what if the officials in question are merely appointed by those who are elected, and thereby insulated from accountability by several levels of indirection? What recourse do the "customers" have then? Can they choose another "rail provider"?

The private sector has natural consequences for failure and a natural incentive to excel and be efficient (certain circumstances, such as monopolies, notwithstanding). The public sector is heavily insulated from consequences for failure and inefficiency.

That doesn't mean that everything should be privatized. It means that we shouldn't be surprised when a service provided by the public sector fails to perform well or efficiently, and we should carefully consider what the government ought to be responsible for. Also, we should make it easier to hold government officials accountable and replace them for incompetence. If someone wants the security of a public sector job, they ought to be held to the highest standards.

[inferiorhuman]

  If a business fails to perform well, its customers can choose another
  provider, and the business will have to improve, or else it will fail.

In this case, mayor Willie Brown (who predates the creation of SFMTA) steered the contracts for the trains and train control to Breda and Alcatel/Thales via Booz Allen Hamilton. Essentially he set up a few generations of sole source contacts for train control as you can see when the MTA was brining the Siemens cars and central subway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6mQfWC1v98

Thing is, Alcatel did fail. Thales scooped them up. From a customer POV Alcatel/Thales failed too. They sold an end of life product that the MTA had to spend millions on just to add a new route (first part of the central subway). They've largely abandoned support of the inductive loop system.

Sure, the MTA could choose another vendor. If memory serves that's where they're stuck currently. Of course this brings out all the anti-government folks despite the main problem being a private vendor (Thales) and private consultants (BAH).

[samatman]

Yes, that happens: when private ventures go sour, which happens rather frequently, they go bankrupt.

Public ventures are like that, but without the bankruptcy.

[aorloff]

Trust me, it’s not only government.

[asveikau]

The US government created the network you used to write that comment.

[aorloff]

As a byproduct of other efforts, not on purpose.